Mason chasing first Whangarei success

Motorsport

Richard Mason will be hoping for a change of luck in the International Rally of Whangarei this weekend.

It is the second race in the 2013 New Zealand Rally Championship with Masterton ace Mason, the defending national champion, going into the event 12 points behind Geraldine's Haydon Paddon after he won the opening event, the Rally of Otago.

Mason, who as usual will have wife Sara in the co-driver's seat, readily concedes Whangarei has not been his happiest hunting ground in the past. He has led on various occasions but has yet to finish better than third.

"Personally I think my driving style isn't particularly suited to the roads there," Mason said. "So we have to adapt and I have to make an adjustment."

Mason said he and Paddon did seem to have similar driving styles from the outside but in reality they were very different.

"You probably couldn't find two people who are more different," he said.

Paddon has won the Whangarei rally three times and while this weekend's event has drawn a quality field of international competitors, including Esapekka Lappi, he is determined to make a bold showing.

"We know what his [Lappi's] car is like and while it is probably superior to ours we know we've got a good enough package that probably suits the Whangarei roads better. So it will be close."

The Rally of Whangarei covers 730.4km over roads through the Whangarei and Kaipara districts and has 16 stages, eight on Saturday and eight on Sunday, including the popular 'Hella Bridge' jump on Swamp Road on the Saturday.

As many as 15 cars and teams are entered for the international portion of the event - coming from Finland, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand - with a further 38 in the subsidiary event for non-international category compliant cars.