Motorsport: NZ to get another Asia Pacific round?

Matt Summerfield won this year's International Rally of Whangarei. Photo / Geoff Ridder

New Zealand could be about to get a second round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

At present only the International Rally of Whangarei lies on the Asia Pacific calendar - doubling as a round of the Brian Green Property New Zealand Rally Championship. But the sport has seen significant growth domestically in recent seasons with the introduction of over a dozen AP4 cars, eligible to compete in the Asia Pacific championship.

APRC President Vicky Chandhok told Motorsport.com that he would like to see the series expand to include multiple events in Australia and New Zealand.

"I am of the firm opinion that we can have two rounds per country," Chandhok said.

"This is because once you get the cars there, why not have two rounds? But let's see what the APRC executive board thinks of that. One round per country is the FIA norm, but we will discuss it."

The APRC has struggled for entry numbers in recent seasons as the cost of transporting cars from country to country has acted as a major deterrent. Only six drivers entered the APRC section of the International Rally of Whangarei earlier this year so this move could be about growing the championship.

Kiwi driver Mike Young has competed in selected rounds in recent times but Chandhok would like to see that number climb on the back of the domestic growth.

"Australia and New Zealand have launched the new AP4 class cars," he said. "New Zealand is in the process of putting out 16-18 cars and Australia is putting out 14 cars. So, they are getting very strong for the Pacific Cup.

"We need to get those cars to the rest of the region. But the challenge is getting these cars across the borders because freight is very expensive.

"For that, I am pushing to get freight subsidy for two years. This is because we want to try and increase the grid to two digits.

"The way we were looking at it is that there would be a competitive car everywhere."

Rally Otago would be the most likely event on the current NZRC calendar to become a round of the APRC. It is a two-day event and less than a month before Whangarei and is well supported.

NZRC organisers knew nothing about Chandhok's comments. A scheduled meeting at the next round in Malaysia in a couple of weeks will provide more clarity on the situation as plans for the 2018 calendar begin to take shape.

There has been a push of late from the FIA to try and improve the feeder series into the World Rally Championship though details are sketchy on how they plan to do that.