The 2025 calendar for the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship has been released and features the return of two events to the schedule but includes two notable omissions.
For the first time since the pandemic, the Canterbury Rally and Rally Coromandel return to the calendar, complimenting four event’s that featured in 2024’s championship.
The season will, as has become traditional, kick off with the two-day Otago Rally on April 4-6, based in Dunedin, one week earlier than in 2024.
The South Canterbury Rally, based in Timaru keeps it’s early-May timeslot, before a return to the Canterbury Rally in Christchurch on June 1.
Following a mid-season break, teams will move to the North Island with another returning event, Rally Coromandel, to be held on August 23 from the seaside town of Whitianga.
The series then moves to the Tauranga-based Rally Bay of Plenty on October 11, before the second two-day round of the season, International Rally of Whangarei, to round out the season on November 7-9.
“It’s really exciting to be able to release the calendar as we work into the 2025 season,” said NZRC Championship co-ordinator Blair Bartels.
“To be able to welcome a couple of exciting events in Canterbury Rally and Rally Coromandel back onto the calendar alongside fantastic events like Otago Rally, South Canterbury Rally, Rally Bay of Plenty and the International Rally of Whangarei is very pleasing.
“Book ending the championship with a pair of two-day events amongst four one-day events keeps things exciting right to the final round, while splitting the events into South and North Island with a mid-season break was very well received amongst the teams this season and offers numerous benefits.
“Of course, we’re blessed to have so many rallies of a high calibre in this country and while keeping to a six-round calendar, unfortunately they can’t all fit in. On that note, we’d like to thank the organisers of the Daybreaker Rally and Southern Lights Rally for their efforts across the last two seasons, particularly stepping up at short notice to pull together the Daybreaker Rally in 2023.”
Missing from the schedule are the popular Daybreaker and Southern Lights rallys, organised by Race Rally Group (R2G), which were held to great success in 2024.
R2G indicated in September this year that they had been informed Daybreaker was not returning to the NZRC calendar in 2025, but that the Southern Lights was offered a place.
“We’ve been asking for a meeting since June to get the dates sorted as the Southern Lights Rally is a June event,” co-organiser of R2G, Paul Fallon, said at the time.
“We were promised the calendar would be announced prior to the Daybreaker, and instead, we are only getting an invite – and it’s mid-September,” he added.
“Planning starts well in advance—at least a year ahead—and this time is crucial to ensure road closures and maintenance are coordinated with local councils, as it impacts their ratepayers. This is critical to the event’s running and a lesson we’ve really benefited from for 2024,” said fellow organiser Tony McConachy.
The tight time frames appear to have made the difference, with the popular event missing from the 2025 calendar.
The return of the Canterbury Rally and Rally Coromandel are a boost for the championship, which MotorSport New Zealand president Deborah Day recognised.
“We’re pleased to see another New Zealand Rally Championship set for 2025,” she said.
“New Zealand is lucky to have the best rallying roads in the world, and with Rally Canterbury and Rally Coromandel returning to the championship calendar we get to see more of those roads contested at our highest level.”
2025 New Zealand Rally Championship
| April 4-6 | Otago Rally |
| May 10 | South Canterbury Rally |
| June 1 | Canterbury Rally |
| August 23 | Rally Coromandel |
| October 11 | Rally Bay of Plenty |
| November 7-9 | International Rally of Whangarei |
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
