A change is likely at the top of the 2024 Mainland Rally Championship (MRC) leaderboard, with the fourth round taking place in Southland this Saturday, August 10.
The MLT Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally will see 20 MRC competitors in a field of 54 cars tackle five Special Stages centred around the township of Wyndham.
While current series leader Robbie Stokes is entered, he will not start as the top seed. Rather, his nearest entered rival, Caleb MacDonald/Kerran Graeve (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6), will be the first car flagged away at 9:15 a.m. outside the MLT Three Rivers Hotel in Redan Street, Wyndham.
Stokes starts seventh on the road along with co-driver Janey Blair, this time driving a Subaru H6 instead of his usual Ford Fiesta AP4. While Stokes’ focus may ultimately be on the NZ Rally Championship, time in the driver’s seat will always pay dividends, and this Saturday could pay twice, also giving him valuable points for the MRC.
MacDonald is currently third overall, sitting behind Marcus van Klink, who hasn’t entered this round. MacDonald has been quick all season, finishing fourth MRC competitor in Otago and second to Stokes at South Canterbury. Unfortunately, he had to retire out of the last round, the Lonestar Canterbury Rally, with suspension damage, as did Stokes.
With the ability for MRC competitors to drop their worst round of the season, meaning the best five count, a number of competitors have elected to miss the journey south while several have elected to use the event as a pre–Silver Fern Rally shakedown.
The seven-day event also hosts the final two rounds of the MRC, the Rally of North Canterbury (23 November 2024) and the Westland Rally (24 November 2024).
Ally Mackay (Ford Escort Mk1) and Deane Buist (Toyota Trueno) are also likely to move up the leaderboard, either breaking into the top three or advancing further.
The MLT Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally will see five Special Stages run over 128km of gravel roads with 126km of touring between them.
The longest stage will be the fourth (Quarry Hills), comprising 44.08 km, nearly a third of the rally. The rally then ends back at the MLT Three Rivers Hotel in Wyndham, with the first car due at 3.32 pm.
