Gilmour will race her Suzuki Swift AP4 car that will be well suited to the rally roads in New Zealand. There have been a few teething troubles over the development years of the Suzuki, but Gilmour is confident the car will be well sorted come the WRC round.
"I'll be part of the New Zealand Rally Championship contingent unless someone gives me a works drive.
"I'll be in my car as the cost of racing an R5 is pretty prohibitive. Hopefully we won't have more problems with the tinny, little things that have caused problems in the past.
"I think we've found them all now and the engine has been running really well of late. "When the car is going, it's going really well. It'll be us in a hybrid-built car up against the factory manufactured cars out of Europe. It'll be interesting to see how many R5 cars do come out here, but our national field is more than capable of mixing it up with them," she said.
Despite it being nine years since New Zealand hoisted a round of the WRC, it is still widely recognised we have the best gravel roads to race on in the world. Drivers from around the globe have consistently been in praise of the unique style of our stages and how quick you can confidently go.
Due to said uniqueness, Kiwi drivers will have an advantage over the international drivers having raced on the fast and flowing stages numerous times over the years.
"You don't really come across roads like ours anywhere else. Finland is similar as is Estonia, but ours are faster and don't have the rough sections they do.
"Our roads are smoother with grip. Local drivers have the knowledge how the cambers work and jumping from corner-to-corner dancing the car through a stage.
"It's not that we have the highest top speed sections, rather we can carry more speed through the corners because of the grip and camber, which a lot of the overseas drivers don't have experience with."
There will no doubt be a bumper field entering the WRC event to benchmark themselves against the world's best. Other than Gilmour, chief among them will be Hayden Paddon who will be keen to showcase his undoubted skills to the international rally community in the hope of getting a WRC gig. Another to watch will be Supercars star Shane van Gisbergen who has already won a couple of rallies in New Zealand, and who has just announced he's entered a round of the Australian Rally Championship.
"It's great that he's doing an Australian round and I bet he'll be champing at the bit to get back to race here. He grew up watching rally and is a big fan of Possum Bourne.
"Hayden will be someone to watch as he'll be out to show what he can do against international drivers," said Gilmour.
