Another Kiwi is beginning to make tracks in a rally car, with his eyes firmly set on the World Rally Championship.
Zeal Jones has earned a contract with TOYOTA GAZOO Racing’s factory rally programme.
The Kiwi-born Japanese national secured one of two available spots from a pool of 100drivers who competed in the outfit’s WRC Challenge Program Generation 5 search.
It means Jones will compete in Europe in 2026, predominantly based in Finland.
The 21-year-old narrowly missed out in 2024 and is delighted to have secured his spot.
“It was a pretty special moment to be on the positive receiving end of the news this year. We’re all sent into a room on the last Friday, they did their little spiel, and then hearing your name get called out is just such a relief. It’s definitely a lot of emotions to go through for sure.”
Zeal Jones (left) will be based in Europe next year. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jones is a third-generation rally driver, and his mother’s side of the family is Japanese. The Toyota programme is primarily for Japanese drivers to ascend to higher ranks.
Jones said the Toyota Gazoo Racing WRC Challenge Program can be a direct path into the WRC.
“We’re able to be straight into the factory team, and then we can just work on ourselves and slowly progress through the ranks that they put us through and then straight into a Rally 1 car hopefully in the future. So, it’s definitely something really special.”
Jones said a lot of 2026 will be about training, development and getting settled into the European style of rally driving.
“So it’s not as intense as I guess I’d like it to be, but as long as we’re delivering on some decent results throughout the year, then we can progress into the further part of their junior program for the coming years. Definitely, the events become far more, I guess we do a lot more big WRC and ERC events.
“So that first month that we head over from the start of February till the middle of March is solely just getting used to the cars, the team and the whole environment, obviously living in a completely different country in an absolute opposite time zone. It’s going to be a big shift in terms of that.”
Jones is hoping to do some European Rally Championship (ERC) events in 2027.
Jones said Paddon - who had won back-to-back ERC titles - has been instrumental in his career.
“I’ve been a part of his Winmax Junior Driving Program for three years now, and he was really fortunate enough to come over for one of our rounds in Japan this year and coach us and put us in the right direction. So, yeah, he’s been overlooking all my moves and everything that we’ve been doing towards working towards this goal.
“He was actually the original link to getting my contract in Japan this year. He’s obviously always wanting to give back.
“He’s looking towards the future of the sport and trying to future-proof it for what’s next after him. It’s been such a cool and inspiring moment to see him get a new WRC contract.”
Nathan Limm has been a journalist with Newstalk ZB and the NZ Herald since 2020. He covered the Netball World Cup in Cape Town in 2023, hosts The Big League Podcast and commentates rugby and netball for Gold Sport.
