Four Rounds down, just two to go, and now it’s a 2-Dayer with 50% more points up for grabs at the Vertex Lubricants International Rally of Whangarei to be run on the fabulously cambered ex WRC roads in the Kaipara District.  




By winning his second round of the season, Aucklander Jack Hawkeswood’s win at a heavily amended, yet still incredibly intense and close fought TRAFFIC SAFE NZ Rally Hawke’s Bay, means the Toyota pilot is now just a single point behind Canterbury’s Jack Stokes.  


Jack H effectively won this round with a stunning drive on the opening 34km Waihi stage where, in terms of how close they had been at the three South Island rounds, he was almost a second per kilometre faster than the Skoda Rally2 trio of the Stokes brothers and Quentin Palmer. Jack H then managed that near half minute lead superbly to beat Robbie Stokes by 24.9 seconds and Jack S by 48.5. By winning the Power Stage Jack H left Hawke’s Bay with the maximum 30 points and thereby clawed back 6 points in his pursuit of Jack S.  


Quentin finished a solid 4th to maintain 3rd in the championship but has now drifted further away from the leading pair to be 29 points off the lead.  


As a 2-Day Round, Whangarei has four points scoring opportunities – the Power Stage (which is Stage 4 the 24k Greenhill test), both Days (Legs) and the Overall Rally result. There’s 5 points for winning the Power Stage, 7 points for winning a Leg and 25 for winning the Rally. Therefore, a maximum of 44 points is available for a clean sweep. Finishing 2nd on all four provides 36 points, so there could be an 8-point swing come Sunday afternoon if the Jacks finish 1st and 2nd. So as early as Stage 4, by Saturday lunchtime, we could have a tied championship if Jack Hawkeswood beats Jack Stokes through there by one place.  


However, news that four times champion Ben Hunt has been drafted in by Hawkeswood’s Force Motorsport Team to drive Dad Andrew’s 2017 championship winning yellow Mazda 2 AP4, has created a whole new set of possibilities as to the likely Stage, Legs and Overall Rally results.  


The Stokes brothers tried to make the Hawke’s Bay result work in Jack’s favour and there’s no reason to think the same managed approach by them won’t be attempted again, if necessary, at Whangarei. However, Force Motorsport have now countered that and Ben, and stand-in co-driver Jared Hudson, can be expected to do their level best to position themselves between their teammate and the Stokes Motorsport pair wherever possible.  


Regardless, the pace at the front will undoubtedly be frenetic right from the outset with Jack Stokes sure to be more competitive than he was on his first visit to Hawke’s Bay last month. He put on a stunning display on exactly the same roads at Whangarei last year in the Fiesta AP4 to lead the round for the first six stages, take it back on the first pass of Pohe island, and then dropped to second when the wipers failed in the atrocious weather conditions on the repeat run of the SSS. Ultimately, he won half the 17 stages that were run and would have beaten his brother for the rally win had it not been for a puncture on the second pass of Waikiekie on the Sunday that cost him 3 minutes.  


Mike Young was there in a non-championship capacity, driving his Toyota Yaris AP4 last year and fought Jack S tooth and nail throughout the Saturday, with the lead swapping no fewer than five times during the day. In fact, these two AP4 cars won 11 of the 17 stages between them, so that augurs well for the Mazda 2 AP4 that Ben Hunt will drive being able to mix it with the Rally2 cars throughout the event.


Top Speeds achieved were also heavily in favour of the AP4’s as well, with Mike hitting 191.1kph and Jack S 190kph on the first pass of Tokatoka while both Skodas managed ‘only’ 183kphs and were consistently outpaced by the AP4’s and the Yaris Proto of Haydn Mackenzie. The Sunday was more of an even spread until the final Bull stage where Jack S recorded the highest Top Speed of the event at 194.2kph, 2kph faster than Mike and Haydn, with the Skodas 11kph slower.  


Admittedly last year had a very different lead-in that meant Ben Hunt only needed a measured drive in his Skoda to secure his fourth GoldStar, Robbie Stokes was a Man on a Mission to prove a point and put Ben under as much pressure as possible and Jack Hawkeswood was debuting his current Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and was under strict instructions to keep it in the middle of the road and focus on learning how to drive it and get the best out of Toyota’s latest WRC2 rally weapon.    


The roads being used are another suite of the classics of North Island rallying and revered from the halcyon days of the WRC visiting this region many times, 30 years ago in the days of Smokefree and Propecia. They are renowned for their fabulous ‘dancing’ camber and average speeds which last year ranged from 93kph on Bull up to 123kph on Tokatoka.


At the time of starting the research for this edition of these Stats, it was the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 aircraft terrorist attack on the Twin Towers and that reminded me that this tragedy almost had a major effect on the running of the 2001 WRC Propecia Rally New Zealand which was set to start just ten days later. The worldwide shutdown of flights created a great deal of uncertainty for several days as to whether international team personnel would be able to get here and I can remember Nicky Grist (then Co-driver for Colin McRae in the Ford Focus WRC) telling us, once he had eventually arrived, that he and several other drivers were actually sitting in their aircraft on the runway at Heathrow Airport when word came through that the Twin Towers and Pentagon had been struck. Ultimately everyone did arrive safely - some by pretty circuitous routes - and in time, and the rally ran as planned with Leg 2 running on a raft of roads being used this weekend. Ruawai was also the Service Park location that year too.  


In 2001 yet another WRC Rally NZ created more bits of WRC history as all 14 Works Cars - from Subaru, Ford, Mitsubishi, Peugeot (all with 3) and Hyundai (2) – finished the event – remember there was no SuperRally in those days. Hyundai led a WRC round for the first time ever when Kenneth Eriksson, running 14th on the road, was leader after the Raglan stages on Day One, and yet again the winner of that year’s Rally NZ, Richard Burns, went on to become World Champion for that year.  


Being run in September, the dominant feature of the rally was road sweeping, so much so that Grist called it a “High Speed Farce”. Burns, along with Subaru’s newly recruited Team Manager George Donaldson, played the tactical game at the end of the first day – much like John Kennard did during his days with Subaru in Spain back in the mid-nineties – so Burns held back to ensure he started Leg 2 ninth on the road.  


The first stage of that Leg was what I refer to as the Maccas stage, because of it being in the shape of the Golden Arches, the monster 59k Parahi/Ararua test that used sections of this year’s Greenhill and Bull stages. Harri Rovanpera was fastest in 33:59.9 (104kph) in his Peugeot 206 and was just 0.3 of a second quicker than Burns in his Subaru Impreza, which meant Richard leapt from 9th into the lead and was never headed for the rest of the event.  


Other stages used up north that year were Batley (20k), Waipu Gorge (11k), Brooks (16k), Paparoa Station (12k), Cassidy (22k), Mititai (27k) and Tokatoka (10k). So that’s 8 stages totaling 177k – with no repeats. Burns won six of them with Didier Auriol (Peugeot) fastest – by only 1.1 seconds from Burns – on Cassidy which, along with Mititai, contained roads being used for Omana on Sunday this year.  


Tokatoka, which is double it’s 2001 length this year at 19k, is most commonly remembered as the stage that claimed multi APRC and Aussie champion Cody Crocker who had a massive accident there in his Group N Subaru that year.  


In spite of Mr Grist’s opinion, 2001 was an absolute highlight for the Rally NZ organisers as it was voted "Rally of the Year" by WRC teams, “praised for its spectator-friendly layout, technical challenges, and the thrilling competition it fostered on its high-speed roads. This recognition underscored the rally's appeal, blending demanding terrain with opportunities for close racing and large crowds.”  


The other significant incident that comes to my mind on these roads dates back to 1997 when Tommi Makinen turned his Mitsubishi into a triangle at 100mph in the Parahi stage and thereby made it three Off Road Retirements in a row – the first two in 1995 and 96 while leading and this one when in hot pursuit of the flying Subaru of one C. McRae. This happened on what is part of the Greenhill stage this year.


 


OTHER NZRC CATEGORIES  


In the 2WD Championship Ari Pettigrew’s decision to not go to Hawke’s Bay did not cost him too much as the returning Jackson Clendon won that round from Ben Harding and Dave Strong, so Ari still has a 14-point lead over Ben, with Dave now 4th another 7 points further back. Deane Buist’s clutch problem seriously dented his championship aspirations (he is now 3rd), so much so that Deane has not come north and has indicated he will now focus fully on the Silver Fern Marathon Rally in November. Tim Mackersy is back after sitting out Hawke’s Bay and will be looking to repeat his excellent podium finish at the other 2-Day round at Otago back in April. The 2WD Co-Drivers series mirrors the Drivers with Jack Norris still in front with Charlotte Harding 2nd, Karl Celeste 3rd, Rob Scott 4th, then Lauren Mackersy.  


The Rally Challenge at Hawke’s Bay went as expected to the very rapid local Grant Blackberry who has now taken the lead from Thomas Paul with Josh Keighley up into 3rd ahead of the brothers Silcock, Harri 4th and Josh now 5th after finishing 2nd in The Bay. All these crews have opted to miss Whangarei, but Christchurch’s Rory Lawn has decided to come north to make the most of being one of only two entries in this round. This will be Aussie Rob Darrington’s second appearance of the championship and after running a Toyota Yaris AP4 at Otago, he will be driving the ex-Tony Gosling Subaru Legacy RS. Therefore, Rory has a great chance to move up the ladder, but the maximum 30 for winning the round would need to be offset by the Best Three Rounds Count Rule, so he could only add 16 points to his total, which would move him up into 3rd Place, still 15 points behind Grant and 8 down on Thomas. Once again, the Co-Drivers Title matches the Drivers with Ric Chalmers now in front from Bridget Airey, Neill Woolley, Mark Greenwood, Daph O’Rourke and Matt Sayers.    


Apart from the five front running Cat 1 contenders, the category for this round also sees the return of Pierre-Henri Brunet from Vanuatu who is fresh from winning his home International Rally last month. He will again be steering the most state-of-the-art car in the event, his Skoda Fabia Rally2 RS.  


As mentioned last time, Categories 2, 3, 4 and 6 competitors are able to drop their worst points scoring round from any one of the first five rounds, so Whangarei is the final ‘optional’ round and with a maximum of 44 points going to the clean sweep winner – first on the Power Stage (this time the 24k long Stage 4 Greenhill) 5 points, winning both Legs (7 each Day) as well as the round (25) – this is a key round to have in your Count of the Best Four Scores.  


Cat 2 is back to no crews this round so, despite Jackson Clendon’s great performance at Hawke’s Bay the current leader is still Fuyuhiko Takahashi with Edgar Vigo Lopez still 7 points behind, and Jackson 3rd 13 points off the leader. So BoP will be the place to crown this winner. Cat 2 Co-drivers has Ken Takahashi leading from Fatima Ameneiro and Sean Lockyear.  


Cat 3 will have the glorious sound of a Porsche back in action with Ari Pettigrew returning, although he is now playing catch up to Dave Strong, starting 5 points behind on the current Points Table. However, Dave already has 4 scores and Ari just 3, so whatever Ari takes away here can be added to his total, whereas Dave can only improve his total by a net maximum of 20 after deducting his Canterbury result. Therefore, Ari could head to the final round at Battery Town Rally Bay of Plenty on 148 points, while Dave’s best would be 129 if . Tim Mackersy is the only other possible contender and if Dave and Ari both had the misfortune to fail to finish, Tim would be in the box seat to take the lead on 128 with Dave staying on 109 and Ari remaining on 104. Again, the Co-Drivers reflects the Drivers with Rob Scott currently in First, Jack Norris 2nd and Lauren Mackersy 3rd.   


Once again, it’s a full house in Cat 4 with all three Historic contenders attending. Phil Macquarie continued his clean sweep of the three rounds he’s done and starts Whangarei in the box seat to return to the top of the table as Pat Norris already has four results. Phil is just 10 points behind Pat and, if his form continues as expected, could add the maximum 44 points heading to Rally BoP. If Pat can keep Mike Cameron at bay, as he just managed to do at Hawke’s Bay, and earns 2nd place points of 36, the most he can add to his total would be ‘only’ 11. Should this transpire Phil would have turned a 10-point deficit into a 23-point lead with the ‘compulsory’ final round to go. So both Pat and Mike really need Phil to have an issue at Whangarei if they are to stay in serious contention beyond this round. With Pat having several different co-drivers and Helen Cameron likely to have her swansong NZRC round at BoP, Phil’s navigator Andrew Brooks can unofficially be congratulated as our first champion of the year even before Whangarei starts.  


In the new Classic Rally Championship (Cat 6C) the unfortunate (and very rare) demise of Deane Buist at Hawke’s Bay means it’s effectively the age-old ‘classic’ two-horse (power) race between Rotary and BDA which sees current leader Ben Harding (Mazda RX7 Group B) with a 21-point advantage over the Ford Escort RS1800 of Roger McKay. These two will need to watch out for Andy Martin in his Escort, who could well take good points away from both or either title contender come Sunday afternoon. Andy could also be making a bit of NZRC history at Whangarei as he is starting his third round of the championship this year, and each time he has used a different car – and in a different category. At Otago he drove the Subaru WRX in Cat 5, at Southland he debuted his Porsche 991 GT3 in Cat 3 and at Whangarei we will see him in the Escort in Cat 6. Charlotte Harding holds the same 21-point lead over Dean McCrostie in the Co-drivers section, with Karl Celeste between them at the moment.  


As mentioned above for the Rally Challenge, Cat 5A has none of the title contenders competing ‘up north’, so Rob Darrington just has to finish on Saturday to take away the maximum 30 points, and therefore the category can be expected to be a great final round shootout between Grant Blackberry (85), Thomas Paul (78), Josh Keighley (70) and Harri Silcock (63) at the Battery Town Rally Bay of Plenty. Ric Chalmers, Bridget Airey, Neill Woolley and Mark Greenwood are the quartet fighting it out for the Co-driver’s title.  


Similarly, Cat 5B will ‘only’ have Rory Lawn starting, so he’s odds on to take away 30 points, and thereby extend his single point advantage over Josh Silcock. However, as Rory already has three scores, he can only improve his total by 5 points after dropping the 25 he got at Otago. So yet again Rally BoP should provide another great scrap to decide this category. The Co-drivers section is intriguing as if Ben Leech does not navigate at BoP for Josh, we can unofficially declare Matt Sayers the Cat 5B Champion now.  


Cat 5C is also the Rob Darrington show as he debuts there. So BoP should be a showdown between the Subaru Impreza H6s of leader Thomas Paul and Josh Keighley. The margin is currently just 6 points. Bridget Airey and Neill Woolley have the same battle ahead of them in the Co-drivers.  


In the Juniors Jack Stokes is the only starter at Whangarei, so come Saturday evening he could well have successfully defended this title, at what is his final year of being eligible for it. If he does, he will have won all 5 rounds.  


Ben Harding and Roger McKay are the Rookie contenders at Whangarei, with Rory Lawn rejoining the contest. Any sort of finish on Saturday by all three would see them all leapfrog both Silcock brothers and set up a five-way fight between them all at BoP.  


Like Jack Stokes in the Juniors, Dave Strong has the maximum points haul in the Gold Card Driver section, and just by finishing will maintain the top spot going to Rally Bay of Plenty and therefore be on the verge of winning his 3rd title in its six-season history. However, any sort of slip up by Dave and Pat could take the lead and even bring Mike back into contention.  


The high-speed retirement of Nelson Law at Hawke’s Bay and therefore his enforced absence from Whangarei, has well and truly opened the door for the returning Pierre-Henri Brunet Rob Darrington is the only other entry, so as long as Pierre-Henri finishes Saturday, P-H will become this year’s International Driver champion, regardless of whether Nelson is back for BoP.  


Two Jack Stokes round wins to Jack Hawkeswood’s two means Skoda and Toyota are tied on 94 points in the Manufacturers series. Jackson Clendon (Ford) and Dave Strong (Honda) did well for their Makes at Hawke’s Bay, so both have passed Porsche to increase their Manufacturers’ scores. Ford are now on 84 and Honda 80 with Porsche still on 69.  


The Teams Cup for Categories 1 – 4 and 6 has Real Fords of NZ (Tim Mackersy & Deane Buist) failing to score at Hawke’s Bay, so they have dropped to third behind Jack Hawkeswood and Dave Strong who both recorded maximums (2 x30) for Team South Auckland Car Club. The North Island Cat 6s of Ben Harding and Roger McKay almost matched Jack H and Dave, but both being in the same Class means the best they can score is points for First and Second – hence their round total of 56. So they are now up into second place 31 points adrift. The brothers Stokes Stokes Motorsport Team added 50 to their total and are fourth on 178 points.  


The margin in the Cat 5 Teams Cup has increased to 22 points in favour of Silcock Motorsport over Team H6 (Josh Keighley/ Thomas Paul), but with no-one running this weekend that’s the way it will stay going to Rally Bay of Plenty at the end of next month.  


All 29 Categories and Awards are available at any time on the ChrisSport website via the Black ‘2026 Points’ icon on the Options Line at the top of the Home Page.


They are also available on the Mobile Version by clicking on the POINTS icon on the Footer of that Home Page and then selecting the Series you want to view.  


The Points Tables get updated immediately after each Round.


     


AND THE SPORT HAS JUST HAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO ANOTHER WRC LEGEND  


A wonderful tribute by David Evans to one of the best Co-Drivers of his era – TERRY HARRYMAN - the incredibly popular Irishman has just passed away.


David's tribute is on Dirtfish and the legendary "Dear God" moment co-driving for Ari Vatanen in the Rothmans Opel Manta 400 (like Derek Ayson has) on the 1983 MANX Rally has become Global Rallying Folklore.


It's very easily found on youtube 


RIP Terry Harryman: 1938-2026  


 

Four-time national champion and reigning champ Ben Hunt is a surprise entry for the upcoming Vertex Lubricants International Rally of Whangarei.




The proven winner could also find himself having a big say in the 2026 championship battle, even without having a hope of winning this year's championship himself.


Hunt will pilot the Force Motorsport Mazda 2 AP4 car that Andrew Hawkeswood drove to the 2017 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.


But while his entry will be a boost for the event and for rally fans, the move gives the Force Motorsport team a rear gunner as such for their team's title hope Jack Hawkeswood.


Hawkeswood Jr trails Jack Stokes (Stokes Motorsport Skoda Fabia Rally2) by just one point heading into the final two rounds of the tightly-fought 2026 championship.


But with Stokes’ crew having a two-car line-up, with two-time NZRC rally winner Robbie Stokes in an identical Skoda to his brother, they have had a potential tactical advantage, where Robbie could take points away from Hawkeswood.


In fact, at the last round at Traffic Safe NZ Rally Hawke’s Bay, Robbie Stokes had been set to hand second place to his brother but for a timing issue preventing the team from implementing team orders.


Now Force Motorsport in effect have the same option available to them.


With a maximum of 44 points on offer over this Two-Day Round, Hunt could well be subjected to team orders at any of the four points-scoring opportunities - the Power Stage (SS4 Greenhill at 24k long), both Day Legs and the Overall Rally - to try and give Hawkeswood the best possible chance at title success, or at least get ahead of Jack Stokes to take away what could be vital championship-deciding points.


It remains to be seen whether the AP4 car is a match for the more modern Rally2 cars but we at least know the driver, and his stand-in co-driver Jared Hudson, have the ability to mix it at the front over the final two rounds.

The name Bourne returns to rally competition in New Zealand when Possum Bourne’s middle child, Spencer (age 28) lines up for the Ashley Forest Rallysprint on Saturday 19 September, thanks to Kiwi rally star Hayden Paddon and Paddon Racing Group (PRG).  




This is the first time a Bourne has competed at Ashley Forest for 26 years, after Possum won the famed North Canterbury rallysprint in 2000.  


Spencer Bourne will be driving a replica Prodrive Subaru Impreza WRX in Group N spec, clad in Possum’s livery and sporting the numberplate, 555POS. Bourne shares the car with PRG technician Josh Cooper at the event, both working together as they take on a new challenge in their driving careers. Josh is the current MotorSport NZ Clubsport Champion.   


Paddon says, “We were lucky enough to have a couple of Possum replica WRXs added to our collection in the past year or so. Possum’s always been a massive inspiration to me, and he did a lot of things for our sport. I thought this was a way to get Possum’s son Spencer involved in the sport and to pay tribute to the Bourne family, keeping Possum’s legacy alive and give Spencer an opportunity to get more involved in rallying.”  


Auckland-based Bourne has competed in a few earlier events as a driver and codriver. The plan proposed by Paddon isn’t simply about following in his father’s footsteps; it’s about developing his own skills, gaining experience and see where rallying can take him. A major target is for Bourne to compete at the Otago Rally in 2027, completing various test days and development work with the team as part of developing his skills and experience.  


Paddon continues, “This isn’t a one-off event. We’re going to work with Spencer over coming months with the goal of him competing at Rally Otago next year. We’ll be coaching Spencer so he’s at the point where he can compete at Otago and properly enjoy it, feel comfortable in the car and the surroundings.”  


Bourne is understandably delighted about the chance to drive at an event formerly won by his father and see what opportunities are ahead in rallying.  


“The opportunity came out of nowhere when Hayden called me, after I’d asked him for some advice about the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally. Mum always told me to say yes to every opportunity, so I did. I’ve watched my dad competing in earlier Ashley Forest events and the road hasn’t changed. My goals for Ashley Forest are simple: to have fun and don’t crash the car.  


“I’ve stayed in touch with Hayden a bit over the years, and I’m a big supporter of his. He’s helped me in various ways like co-driving notes for an event and advice like not putting pressure on myself this weekend, to have a go at rallying and see what I can make of it.”  


Paddon says, “It’s going to be great to see Spencer out competing, in an iconic car in iconic Possum colours. My team and I are very proud to be part of this and keep this legacy alive for someone who was such a big inspiration for me and others in our sport.”  


Bourne was very impressive at the team’s pre-event test day in Central Otago, showing surprising speed given his limited rally experience.   


“I’m sharing the car with Josh Cooper this weekend,” says Bourne. “During our test day, I sat beside Josh driving for my first run in the car and that helped me see how the car behaves. Josh has been really helpful too; the whole team has. The car’s easy to drive, super responsive. It feels quite natural which is pretty special, to be honest. I think my father would be saying if I’m having fun, then I’m winning.”  


At the two-day Ashley Forest event, which sees competitors tackle the short, intense hillclimb course of only 1.7 kilometres. The current course record of 52.00 seconds was set by Paddon in 2023 in his Hyundai i20 AP4++. He’s chasing a new course record this year in the Hyundai and will also be competing a Group A Subaru. The PRG team is also running two cars for Emma Gilmour, one for Steward Reid and the Subaru for Bourne and Cooper.  


PRG appreciates the support of their partners including Hyundai New Zealand, Caltex Havoline Oil, Mitre 10 Trade, Winmax Brake Pads, Bar’s Bugs, EROAD, Ben Nevis Station, Design Windows, MITO, Repco, Machinery House, King Gee, KiwiFibre, Hankook, Z Energy, and Blaster.

Hayden Paddon and John Kennard, New Zealand’s most successful rally pairing, have added a second place podium position in WRC Rally del Paraguay to their long list of achievements with Hyundai on the world’s sporting stage.  




Running 28 to 31 August, the Paraguayan round of the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship was based in the city of Encarnación and became notable for the tyre problems and incidents among top-running competitors on Friday. While Paddon and Kennard had their own tyre issues later in the day, they demonstrated stage-winning pace to lead the rally outright by Friday lunchtime – the first time Paddon had led a WRC rally since Rally de Portugal 2018.  


The New Zealanders then gave it their all to hold on to second place from Friday afternoon through to Sunday’s finish, ending up 25.8 seconds behind the winners, Finns Sami Pajari and co-driver Marko Salminen, and 14.2 seconds ahead of third-placed Hyundai Motorsport teammates Adrian Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria.  


Paraguay’s second place adds to their third place at WRC Croatia in April this year, a remarkable achievement for the Kiwis who have been one of three driver/co-driver pairings driving Hyundai Motorsport’s third i20 N Rally 1 car at selected WRC events this year.  


Paddon said, “I’m not sure this podium is better than Croatia because of what happened in the second to last stage [red-flagged and not restarted following an accident involving Takamoto Katsuta and co-driver Aaron Johnston] but I feel like we can celebrate it. This feels proper, amazing. Everyone had their issues as we did too and since Friday we’ve been managing that gap to others behind me.  


“There’s certainly more speed there, but it felt unnecessary to deliver that this weekend. We did our job, second is almost as good as a win, particularly with the journey we’ve been on.  


“The car’s still a little bit foreign to me. There are things technically that could be better for me. The car’s very good on gravel. You’ve only got to look at Thierry and Adrian’s speed on gravel; it’s fast. There’s a little bit of finetuning for my driving style, which is a bit different. I learned a lot about the car this weekend that I didn’t learn in our pre-event test.  


“That’s all part of the process. We always knew it would be tough, jumping straight in the car, but probably surprised myself how well we did adjust.  


“I wondered if people thought we’d been a bit of a guilt signing this year, especially after Monte Carlo. Then I was happy with the progress we made on tarmac and knew we’d been given a tough opportunity with the rallies we had. Off the back of that success, we obviously got the reward of this rally. We knew this was such an important rally, and I did a lot of preparation to do the best I could.”  


Friday’s opening four stages, during which others suffered tyre and engine issues, Paddon and Kennard kept their cool to lead the rally by 23.9s by Friday lunchtime. On the afternoon’s repeat run through the same four stages, Paddon had his own tyre problems, but maintained sufficient pace to hold second place on the standings at the end of Friday, 11.9 seconds behind Finn Sami Pajari and 44.4 seconds ahead of championship leader Elfyn Evans in third.  


Of Friday, Paddon said, “I think everyone’s had problems, so if we can drive out of two stages on punctures and still be within touching distance, we’ve been unlucky but lucky at the same time.”  


Saturday brough nine competitive stages but not the forecast wet weather. Paddon and Kennard maintained a steady but competitive pace, with regular top four and five stage times to hold their second place overall by day’s end, now 24.1 seconds behind Pajari.  


Paddon said, “Two pretty clean days so far to be in second place still. Happy that we’ve been able to hold our own and maintain those gaps to other competitors. Today, obviously conditions that we weren’t expecting. That affected our tyre plan a bit as we’d set up the car for the forecast weather conditions. Learned a few things about the car today and still a few things I could do a bit better. There’s a lot of things that could happen in this rally still. Tonight we’re going to knuckle down, do our homework and prepare as best we can. We’ll try to bring home a podium result tomorrow but there’s still a long way to go.”  


Sunday’s focus was again on delivering enough pace to hold second place without unnecessary risk and that’s exactly what Paddon and Kennard delivered.  


Paddon concludes, “Massive thanks to Hyundai for this opportunity this year, we've just absolutely loved it. For our Kiwi supporters and our own PRG team back at home for allowing me to still do this. And of course John, 22 years in the car together. We don't know what's next, but this has been one hell of a journey. He's an absolute legend.”  


Paddon returns to New Zealand for his next event, the Ashley Forest Rallysprint on 19 and 20 September where he’s going all out to set a new hillclimb record in his Hyundai i20 AP4.  


PRG appreciates the support of their partners including Hyundai New Zealand, Caltex Havoline Oil, Mitre 10 Trade, Winmax Brake Pads, Bar’s Bugs, EROAD, Ben Nevis Station, Wipertech, Design Windows, MITO, Repco, Machinery House, King Gee, KiwiFibre, TrialLite, Hankook, Z Energy, Blaster and Signbiz.  


Follow Hayden Paddon and his Hyundai Motorsport news and results via the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc.

Kiwi rally driver Hayden Paddon took full advantage of the opportunity to contest Rally Hawke’s Bay on 22 August as part of his preparation for his last outing in the 2026 FIA World Rally Championship.  




Competing with Jared Hudson as his co-driver in the PRG-run Hyundai i20 N Rally 2, Paddon won the weather-affected, shortened Hawke’s Bay rally. According to New Zealand rally statisticians, this was his 31st consecutive rally win in New Zealand driving a Hyundai.  


“It was a good weekend in Hawke’s Bay,” says Paddon. “The car and team; everything ran faultlessly. The main purpose of the rally was about seat time before we head to Paraguay. With our limited testing time and time on gravel with the Hyundai i20 N Rally1 car, the more seat time the better at this point, despite being different cars. Hawke’s Bay went well and I felt like my driving was more refined when comparing the Southland Rally a few weeks earlier. So in that respect, mission accomplished, and now full focus on Paraguay.”  


John Kennard returns to the co-driver’s seat for WRC Rally del Paraguay which gets underway on Thursday, 27 August.  


“We’re very excited for everything about rallying in Paraguay with Hyundai, but also cautiously mindful how big the challenge is that lays ahead,” says Paddon, who has contested three WRC events – Monte Carlo, Croatia and Japan – for Hyundai this year and is the only driver to have taken Hyundai’s third i20 N to the podium, following a run to third in Croatia.  


“We are incredibly thankful for the opportunity, which was never on the cards at the start of the year when the first three tarmac rallies were planned. To be back on gravel is where we are most comfortable, and even with just 100km of testing in the Rally 1 car on gravel in Europe recently, it immediately felt good and an environment where we can thrive.  


“Of course John and I want to be competitive in Paraguay, and as our last event in our Rally1, we want to give it our absolute best. But we don’t ever forget that we’re up against the world’s best drivers in cars they get to drive week in and week out. Plus most of them contested this event last year and the route is 60 per cent the same as last year, so it’s a tall ask. We will have to take more risks for this event and step out of our comfort zone to give ourselves the best chance of being competitive.”  


Based in the city of Encarnación, near the Argentina border, WRC Rally del Paraguay promises a mix of smooth red-earth stages and trickier technical sections through dense vegetation. While the surface is mostly soft and fast, deep ruts and sudden surface changes are expected to keep drivers guessing across the weekend.  


“The conditions are unique. For our preparation, we’ve used what’s available to us such as onboard videos from last year. While it’s a fast rally, there are a lot of grip changes on a hard-packed, clay base road. If wet, it can be incredibly slippery. These roads also don’t demonstrate quite the same road cleaning effects as a normal gravel rally, so while our road position – eighth among the Priority 1 drivers – will be a small advantage, it won’t be massive.”  


Paddon concludes, “We’re looking forward to the challenge to put our best foot forward, and to enjoy it. It’s also going to be special to have more than 30 Kiwis with us there in our tour group, so we’re looking forward to a good week all round.”  


WRC Rally del Paraguay runs 27-30 August and comprises 22 special stages and 358.99 competitive kilometres. The Service Park is in Encarnación, a city on the north bank of the Paraná River, in southern Paraguay. Competitors complete reconnaissance of the stages on Tuesday and Wednesday, before media activities on Thursday and the rally gets underway with SS1 on Friday morning.  


PRG appreciates the support of their partners including Hyundai New Zealand, Caltex Havoline Oil, Mitre 10 Trade, Winmax Brake Pads, Bar’s Bugs, EROAD, Ben Nevis Station, Wipertech, Design Windows, MITO, Repco, Machinery House, King Gee, KiwiFibre, TrialLite, Hankook, Z Energy, Blaster and Signbiz.  


Follow Hayden Paddon and his Hyundai Motorsport news and results via the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/haydenpaddonwrc.

Hyundai Works Driver Hayden Paddon and his local co-driver Jared Hudson convincingly won Rally Hawkes Bay to record Hayden's 31st consecutive rally win in New Zealand drving Hyundais, a record that now stretches back almost a decade.


They won all stages in their Paddon Rally Group prepared Hyundai i20 Rally2 car on their way to a 1 minute 47.0 second win over Jack Hawkeswood/Jason Farmer.




In the NZRC competition, Hawkeswood has slashed Jack Stokes’ lead in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship to a solitary point after winning a dramatic contest that went right down to the final Time Control.


Hawkeswood, who has now split round victories two apiece with Stokes, led from start to finish in a superb drive in his Vertu Equipment Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 car.


He laid down the challenge on the opening stage, taking almost 30 seconds off his title rival in the process.


Stokes had to settle for third place behind his Stokes Motorsport teammate and brother Robbie, who finished second.


The older Stokes brother looked back to his near best with an impressive drive.


Quentin Palmer (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) found himself more in the podium battle with good outright speed and showed he will be a force on the North Island roads he’s more familiar with.


Hawke’s Bay local Grant Blackberry completed the top five – dominating the Rally Challenge 4WD class in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10. Blackberry turned heads with a brilliant second fastest time on the opening stage in his older model car.


The Toyota GR Yaris Rally Cup cars of Aussie star Toby Price and local driver Will Menzies finished sixth and seventh respectively in a performance that highlights the quality of the Force Motorsport product.


Young Jackson Clendon reminded everyone about his undeniable talent with a strong showing in his Ford Fiesta Rally4 car to win the NZRC 2WD class.


Dave Strong claimed honours in the Open 2WD class in his Honda Jazz RS to help close the championship gap to the absent Ari Pettigrew.


Phil Macquarie (Ford Escort RS1800) made up for missing the most recent round to win the Historic 2WD class ahead of Pat Norris (Toyota Corolla AE86) and Mike Cameron (Mitsubishi EX Lancer). The latter two enjoyed a terrific back and forth battle that Norris ended on top of.


Hawke’s Bay locals Ben and Charlotte Harding (Mazda RX7 Group B) enjoyed a brilliant day on home roads to win the Classics class ahead of Ross McKay (Ford Escort RS1800).


The impressive Josh Silcock (Ford Fiesta R2) turned heads again with a terrific showing in the Rally Challenge 2WD class to claim class honours and finish top 10 overall.


Josh Keighley (Subaru Impreza H6) backed up second place in the Rally Challenge 4WD class with a win in the Group A Challenge.


The championship heads north for the penultimate round of the NZRC to the two-day Vertex Lubricants International Rally of Whangarei late next month on September 25-27.