It’s set to be a huge weekend for Kiwi rally fans because Rally New Zealand is about to tear up our gravel roads once again. It gets better too because there is an action-packed High Octane on Hampton ‘side show’ on this Sunday 8th May.
It’s a seriously big day of motorsport action at the Hampton Downs Motorsport Park with top-class rally action alongside the first-ever running of a Ken Block-style Gymkhana X competition, a Gran Turismo 5 virtual racing challenge with awesome prizes and way more.
Gran Turismo 5 Virtual Challenge
“There’s a great pool of prizes up for grabs for the Gran Turismo 5 virtual challenge finalists,” says Rally New Zealand chairman Peter (‘PJ’) Johnston.
“Anyone can register to compete in the Gran Turismo 5 virtual challenge, which is made possible with the support of Sony PlayStation and VisionRacer. Simply come to Hampton Downs Motorsport Park for 9am on Sunday 8 May, pay the entry fee to the circuit and look for the Sony signage to find the GT5 competition arena inside the pavilion,” says Johnston.
For the first round of the GT5 competition, all entrants will ‘drive’ the HKS Racing Performer CT230R on Vision Racer simulation units and attempt to do the fastest lap on the Tsukuba Circuit. A scoreboard of times will be kept throughout the day, with the entrant with the fastest lap time receiving $500 cash and a special GT5 prize pack from Sony.Read the rest of this entry »
The recently held Rally of NZ was an awesome event, there was a special stage held in Auckland’s Domain, and some close racing on beautiful kiwi roads. One incident that wasn’t so beautiful was the vicious but perfectly-timed brown-eye pulled by one local spectator. The helpless victim of this nasty crime was NZ driver Mark Tapper and his WRC Mitsubishi Evo rally car. Neither will be the same again.
Tapper who was seriously distracted lost control of his Evo, hit the barrier and ended up on the roof. The drivers comments immediately after the crash are crazy funny but not suitable for work. You can see the white bottom that kicked it all off 33 seconds into the clip.
It’s pretty ‘stink’ what happened to Tapper, but you absolutely must check out the video by clicking the link below.
Kiwi rally fans get to see a whole new class of WRC action when the new Super 2000 WRC category lines up for Rally New Zealand in May this year.
The Super 2000, or S2000, class of rally car currently comprises production-based cars with non-turbocharged two-litre engines. Ford and Skoda are the two manufacturers with the most S2000 vehicles confirmed for the 2010 season to date.
There are two competitions for S2000 entrants, explains Paul Mallard, general manager of Rally New Zealand.
“The Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) is a competition for drivers and the WRC Cup is a competition for teams running S2000 cars,” says Mallard.
“Currently six teams have confirmed entries for the WRC Cup, with four of the teams selecting Rally New Zealand as one of their seven events in 2010.”
The International teams confirmed for Rally New Zealand are:
The Czech Ford National Team brings Martin Prokop, the reigning FIA Junior World Rally Champion, to New Zealand in another Ford Fiesta S2000. Prokop’s move to the S-WRC is regarded by European rally commentators as one of the biggest names to make the switch to the new category. Prokop contested Rally New Zealand in 2008, taking a tight-fought P-WRC class win.
Swedish driver Patrik Sandell and the Red Bull Rally Team are bringing a new Skoda Fabia S2000 to Rally New Zealand. Sandell drove this model of car to victory on the opening two P-WRC rounds in 2009 (when the S2000 cars were allowed to run in the same class as P-WRC cars). Like 2009, Sandell’s car will be run by Austrian motorsport company BRR under the Red Bull banner. Driving a Group N Mitsubishi, Sandell came second in the P-WRC category in Rally New Zealand in 2008.
Barwa World Rally Team, which will run a Ford Fiesta S2000 for Qatar driver Nassar Al Attiyah, the 2006 Production World Rally Champion and six-time Middle East Rally Champion. Al Attiyah was one of the stars of the 2009 P-WRC season, driving his Subaru Impreza to class wins in Argentina and Italy. He will be accompanied to New Zealand in 2010 by his regular co-driver Italian Giovanni Bernacchini.
The JanPro team from Finland has entered another Ford Fiesta S2000 for former official Skoda driver Janne Tuohino. Having contested 40 WRC events in several different WRC cars over seven seasons, the double Finnish rally champion will be back in 2010 with his privately-run team and co-driver Markku Tuohino.
The S-WRC for drivers currently has eight drivers entered — those listed above and the following drivers who are not planning to come to New Zealand:
Last year’s J-WRC runner-up Michal Kosciuszko with the Dynamic World Rally Team in a Ford Fiesta S2000;
Former P-WRC driver Eyvind Brynildsen and Skoda Rene Georges Rally Sport will campaign a Skoda Fabia S2000;
Portugal’s Bernardo Sousa is driving a Ford Fiesta S2000 prepared by M-Sport;
And former WRC manufacturer team driver Xevi Pons is also contesting the S2000 Ford.
Marc de Jong, responsible for the commercial development of WRC support championships through the championship promoter North One Sport, says the take up for this year’s inaugural S-WRC competition was ‘fantastic’.
“The S-WRC has a very strong appeal because it is the championship of the future,” says de Jong. “These are the cars that are going to dominate the WRC of 2011, because S-WRC cars form the basis of the next generation of World Rally Cars.”
De Jong believes the number of entries could increase to 12 by the final cut-off date of 9 April.
“I’m aware of about four others who are close to signing up and confirming. If all goes to plan, I expect we will have between 10 and 12 entries. In the first year of a championship like this that is a fantastic number.”
Skoda and Ford are the only two manufacturers represented in the entries so far, but de Jong is expecting entries from other marques to follow. “I know that Peugeot, Abarth, Proton and MG drivers are among those looking to get into the championship.”
WRC regulations state that no new Super 2000 cars may be homologated after the end of 2010 with a normally aspirated two-litre engine. In future, they must be fitted with 1.6 litre turbocharged engine.
It’s set to be a huge weekend for Kiwi rally fans because Rally New Zealand is about to tear up our gravel roads once again. It gets better too because there is an action-packed High Octane on Hampton ‘side show’ on this Sunday 8th May.
Read the rest of this entry »
