Rallying in New Zealand has been missing its pinnacle event since 2012, but gravel chuckers everywhere are rejoicing in the news this week that there will again be a World Rally Car Series round in NZ, at least in the short term.
Rally New Zealand was named in WRC Promoter’s 14-round calendar which was confirmed today (Friday) by the FIA, world motorsport’s governing body.
WRC.COM
The gravel road rally, which will form round 10 of the WRC, will return to its former North Island base of Auckland from 3 – 6 September next year.
This is huge news for the world’s rallying community and is the culmination of literally years of hard work by many local motorsport officials and participants.
The NZ round of the WRC series has always been a favourite with drivers due to our fairly unique well cambered and beautifully flowing gravel roads. A drivers’ rally if you will, it brings out the best in what are arguably the world’s best drivers.
WRC has a huge reach around the world and is one of the most-watched sports on TV. In 2018 for instance, their viewership was over 825 million people. That’s a lot of people getting to check out our little part of the world so one would expect that there will be a benefit in regard to tourism.
“New Zealand has a close affinity with the WRC and ranks in the top 10 of the championship’s most-visited host countries…
WRC.COM
One of the stalwarts who have been working behind the scenes to get the NZ round reinstated is our very own WRC driver Hayden Paddon. Looks like we might get to see him fighting for the win again but whether it will be in a full WRC drive or a one-off is not yet known. Hayden is a good bugger and an extremely good driver. He was quick to give a shout out to the others who have been taking on the fight to get the round back.
Incredibly excited to see the news WRC is returning to the shores of NZ in 2020. It has been a long journey and a lot of work by many people to get it back since 2012 and in particular Peter ‘PJ’ Johnston and Michael Goldstein. Looking forward to being part of the event in September 2020, based out of Auckland. Rally New Zealand
So we look forward to seeing more of the awesome feral WRC cars spitting out dust and stones next September and look forward to seeing some of our lesser-known drivers getting the chance to get amongst it with the pros from around the world.