A perusal of the seeding list for the 2025 Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally revealed a very interesting entry at twenty-five, that of Dean Sumner.
Sumner was the New Zealand Rally Champion back in 2010, the pinnacle of what was a very successful career that saw many wins throughout the country in a variety of Mitsubishi EVO’s.
He almost had another New Zealand title in 2007 but ran out of fuel on Rally NZ just 300 metres short of the finish.
“We had a standard fuel tank and were using FIA fuel, and we just could not make it.”
The National title in 2010 remains a highlight, but so too the Nelson Rally of that year, which he dominated ahead of Richard Mason.
“If you were beating Richard, you were doing well!”
He and Mason had another great battle the following year at the Daybreaker Rally.
“I won 7 of the 8 stages. I had 37 seconds over Richard at the end, and the others were minutes behind us both.”
“As a team, we achieved a lot over that period. It was very satisfying and a lot of fun, some of the best times of my life.”
There were not many rallies after that. Based out of Rotorua at his peak, Dean decided to put his farm on the market. When it sold, he felt “it was meant to be”, so he moved south to Wanaka.
“My sister lives there and my mum is there now too. I have a car servicing business.
“It was always on my mind to come back later on in a classic car. Not many do come back. I was hoping that I could remember how to drive, but after driving the Escort at Wyndham this past weekend, I can say I do still remember.”
His first rally back after nearly fifteen years was at the Otago Rally earlier this year.
“I bought a Toyota Corolla AE86 about two days before the event and organised Daph O’Rourke as my co-driver the day before.
“I rushed into it. Otago was about dipping my toes in the water. I had punctures and I was catching cars on stages. There were no clean stages.
“I decided the Corolla wasn’t for me, so I bought an Escort BDA off Jeff Judd. I did a lot of work on it, and I intend to strip it down and give it a big birthday. It is the most beautiful car I have ever driven.”
Dean rated the Wyndham Rally as possibly the big highlight of his rally career because he had his daughter Kourtney alongside in the co-driver seat.
“She is 16 years old and she did an amazing job.
“She loved it. It was interesting driving blind again (the Wyndham Rally does not have stage notes). We just did our own rally. We didn’t look at stage times. We just had fun.”
The duo finished an impressive fourteenth overall and third in their class, taking home a trophy.
“She was stoked,” says Dean.
Will we see Dean Sumner doing more rallying in our part of the world? The answer comes quickly.
“Heck yeah! I am going to do Lawrence and then really concentrate on the Otago Rally next year. If I have a good run there, I might have a go at the Classic Rally Championship.”
As to Kourtney’s future as a co-driver, says, “we will build her up to read notes,” so it looks like she will get more opportunities to sit alongside her dad in the future.
Header Image: Graeme Fraser
