Image by Geoff Rider: Top local drivers like Emma Gilmour, from Dunedin, are up against international stars like Australian Proton driver Chris Atkinson during July’s International Rally of Whangarei. Confirmed drivers include former WRC stars Alister McRae, from the UK, and Chris Atkinson, from Australia, who return with the latest Super 2000-spec Proton Satria Neos. The top-rated Proton pairing is up against the two MRF Tyres Mitsubishi team-mates, last year’s champion Katsuhiko Taguchi from Japan, who is the APRC’s most experienced driver, and Indian Gaurav Gill.

“Whangarei fans are also sure to be looking out for top local team-mates Ben Jagger and co-driver Ben Hawkins – they’re known as ‘the two Bens’ and they’ll want to deliver a good performance in front of their home crowd.”   One of the key roles for the event’s clerk of the course, Willard Martin, is to plan the rally route which takes competitors and fans from south from Whangarei city to the Kaipara Harbour.   Martin says: “It is possible to run an event of this nature only with the support of numerous people such as the residents of the roads we use for the competitive stages. It is a pleasure to work with personnel from Whangarei District Council and Kaipara District Council, who along with the charitable Maungaturoto Co-operative and other community groups and residents, provide considerable assistance in helping us run a truly world-class motorsport event.   Martin also notes: “This is the fifth consecutive year the region has hosted the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-sanctioned championship rally, and once again the scenic roads, bush and harbours around Whangarei will feature in the photographs and television footage seen by millions across the Asia Pacific.”
		Image by Geoff Rider

 
The competitors’ service park and the rally headquarters are again based at Whangarei’s Quayside Town Basin with the rally route taking competitors south from Whangarei as far as Tanoa on the upper reaches of the Kaipara Harbour, just west of Brynderwyn.

 “The northern-most competitive stage is the super special stage at Pohe Island, the recreational reserve on Riverside Drive, just a couple of kilometres from central Whangarei. It’s a fairly compact route which challenges competitors and offers fans numerous excellent viewing points, such as Pohe Island and Hella Bridge in Wairere Road near Maungaturoto,” Martin adds.

The event’s organisers, the team from Rally New Zealand, accept entries from 22 April until 22 June, with the seeded entry list being published on 24 June, three weeks before the rally runs.

Spectator information, maps and entry lists will all be updated on the event website, www.rallywhangarei.co.nz, as details are confirmed over coming months.

For further information, please contact the following International Rally of Whangarei personnel:
Laurie Brenssell, organising committee chairman
Mob: 0274 333 667

Willard Martin, clerk of the course
Mob: 029 576 6437

Kate Gordon, media manager
Mob: 021 587 227
Email: kate@rallynz.org.nz