Jack Hawkeswood has won the Rally Bay of Plenty to celebrate his maiden national championship in style on Saturday.
The 25-year-old Toyota Yaris Rally 2 driver secured the 2026 New Zealand Rally Championship at last month’s penultimate round in Whangarei.
But another faultless drive made it four wins from the six rounds and helped secure Toyota the coveted manufacturers’ title as well. Quentin Palmer (Skoda Fabia Rally 2) claimed runner-up in the championship by finishing 53.6 seconds behind Hawkeswood on Saturday.
Grant Blackberry secured a maiden NZRC outright podium by finishing third in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10 – an older generation car – while also becoming the first person to repeat as champion of the Rally Challenge 4WD class.
He edged an impressive Will Menzies in the Toyota Yaris GR Rally Cup Car by 14.7 seconds in a battle that went back and forth all day. Blackberry saw off the challenge of the impressive Thomas Paul (Subaru Impreza H6) to win the Rally Challenge class.
Josh Silcock (Ford Fiesta) held his nerve to take advantage of Rally Challenge 2WD rival Rory Lawn’s misfortune to win the rally and take out the 2026 title. Lawn suffered a steering failure in his Toyota Starlet.
Silcock had shown great promise all year and narrowly missed out on beating Lawn early in the season.
It was a great day for Ben Harding (Mazda RX7), who took out the Classics class, became Rookie champion and won the Overall 2WD title alongside his daughter Charlotte.
Fuyuhiko Takahashi (Ford Fiesta) did enough to claim the NZRC 2WD class title despite a dominant performance by Jackson Clendon (Ford Fiesta), who cruised to a class win at Bay of Plenty and an impressive fifth overall.
The other driver to really catch the eye on Saturday was Australian WRC2 star Taylor Gill, who finished an incredible ninth overall in the Suzuki Swift Cup car.
Veteran driver Mike Cameron gave the perfect send-off to co-driver Helen Cameron and the LILEVO Mitsubishi Lancer by winning the Historic class at Bay of Plenty, jumping to runner-up in the season battle in the process.
Phil Macquarie (Ford Escort) retired on Saturday but had done enough to be crowned champion for the season.
Header Photo: Geoff Ridder
