"The last time I raced in Gisborne was in 2012 when I was racing the Fiesta. It was the last round, we finished second and won the championship," said Hunt.
"I'm looking forward to going back as some of the roads are the same as before and there are new stages.
"We've got the famous Motu this year and there's been a lot of hype around that. Colin McRae set a fast time through there in the past and there'll be a few Subarus having a go at beating it. I've never seen it myself, just heard a lot about it.
"I love the twisty stages anyway, so the Motu should be a lot of fun. I'm focusing on the championship now so won't be doing anything silly and trying for the centre of the road to avoid any punctures.
"It's not a huge lead in the championship so we have to go fast enough to consolidate it [lead] but not too fast that we make a mistake."
Second seed Campbell has managed to keep Hunt honest, proving his Mitsubishi is a match for pace on most stages. The same can be said for third-placed Featherstone who has filed away points at each round so far.
Emma Gilmour's Suzuki Swift has found some reliability and consistency of late, and despite being seeded eighth will be one to watch. She finished a creditable fourth overall last time out in Canterbury clicking off a couple of top three stage times.
In the run-up to the Gisborne event it was announced that five-time national NZRC champion Richard Mason and co-driver wife Sara Mason would be joining the fray after missing the first three rounds. Many fans were looking forward to seeing how Hunt would stack up against Mason, or vice versa, especially over the Motu pass. Unfortunately, at the very last minute any hope of seeing two of New Zealand's leading rally protagonists battling out has been dashed.
"The car's not up to scratch and we found we had an engine problem that required it to be hauled out of the car and stripped down," said Mason.
"We don't have the funding in place just yet to be able to get a whole bunch of people involved to help and there's not enough time for me to sort it out myself.
"We decided to skip Gisborne, get the car right and be at Wairarapa [October 3]. It's a real shame as I had a test recently and it felt good to be back in the car and I'm seriously itching to go rallying. This year's been hard, as we've missed all the rallies so far.
"I think we've missed more rallies in 2015 than we have since I started rallying. We'll battle on though, and look forward to October."
Heading the entry in the Challenge category is Darren Galbraith. The Mitsubishi driver was the standout performer at the last round with a second overall finish behind Hunt. Taking the challenge to Galbraith are a host of drivers lead by Kingsley Jones and Richard Bateman, both winners at rounds this year.
The Historic field is again headed by defending class champion Van Klink from in the Group B Mazda RX7. He will face stern competition from former national champion Brian Stokes in a Ford Escort RS1800 and Andy Martin piloting a Mazda RX3.
NZRC standings
Placings after three rounds:
1. Ben Hunt ........................ 96
2. Phil Campbell ................. 84
3. Graham Featherstone .... 56
4. Lance Williams ............... 46
5. Marcus van Klink ........... 45
6. Brian Green ................... 45
7. Matt Summerfield ......... 43
8. Dylan Turner ................. 42
