Ben Hunt has won his third New Zealand Rally Championship and first since 2019 with a comfortable second place finish at the International Rally of Whangarei.
Hayden Paddon, in the Hyundai New Zealand i20 Rally 2, was the class of the field once again, powering to a dominant rally win but just missed out to Hunt in the season’s standings having missed the opening round at Otago due to a clash with his European Rally Championship.
Four minutes and 42 seconds seperated the two-time European Rally Champion from the field at the conclusion of Sunday’s proceedings.
Victory in the rally does bring extra silverware for Paddon and his co-driver Jared Hudson in the form of the 2024 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) title.
Driving a Hyundai i20N Rally2 car, the pair set the fastest times on all 18 special stages of the event, which covered rural roads of Northland.
“It’s a fantastic result from a tough event,” Paddon said, reflecting on his new title.
“The dry conditions were very hard on tyres, as expected, so it was all about keeping it clean, managing our pace, and enjoying it as much as we could. A huge credit to everyone on our team – the reliability of the car and how well they have been working is second to none. I’m very proud of this result.”
Hunt, along with co-driver Tony Rawstorn, in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 capped off a succesful season with the runner-up result in the APRC title, behind his compatriot.
Second-placed Hunt expressed his admiration for Paddon, saying, “There’s no one else I’d rather finish behind. He’s a world-class driver who’s always active in the car, whereas we only compete in five or six rallies a year. It’s an awesome result for our team. It’s been a great weekend.”
Dylan Thomson claimed his best-ever overall single-event finish in Whangarei, driving to third in the Kiwi Carpet Cleaners Subaru Impreza,12.2 seconds to the good of Emma Gilmour, in her Vantage New Zealand Citroen C3.
Fourth place in Whangarei for Gilmour earned her a podium spot in the APRC.
“Very, very happy,” she said. “It’s been a tough event, a long event, and the heat made it even more challenging. We’ve had an awesome weekend, and finishing third in the APRC is an amazing result given the competition.”
Stewart Reid completed the International Rally of Whangarei top five in the SR Automotive Mitsubishi Mirage AP4.
Bryn Jones took an impressive win in the NZRC 2WD class – beating Jack Stokes by two minutes and 42 seconds. Thomson had already wrapped up the championship at the previous round before swapping classes for Whangarei.
Willy Hawes finished second in class in his Toyota 86 to take out the Open 2WD championship despite title rival Dave Strong’s (Honda Jazz) win at Whangarei.
Paul Fraser (Ford Escort) won the Historic 2WD title after finishing runner-up to Anthony Jones (Ford Escort) over the weekend. Mike Cameron was third in the Mitsubishi Lancer.
New Zealand’s Jack Hawkeswood, along with co-driver Jason Farmer (Toyota Yaris AP4, New Zealand), claimed the Pacific Cup, while Hawkeswood also claimed the Junior title.
Tim and Lauren Mackersy (Ford Fiesta Rally4, New Zealand) won the APRC two-wheel-drive title.
Over the two-days, teams covered a total of 237 competitive kilometres on Northland’s iconic cambered and flowing roads. The dry weather created a hard, fast surface, although isolated rain patches on Sunday failed to add variability.
While 11 teams representing four nationalities entered the APRC championship decider, nine completed the event. Kiwi competitors Robbie Stokes and Ally Mackay went off the road on Saturday’s third stage, while Zeal Jones and Waverly Jones were sidelined by gearbox issues on Sunday after the 12th stage. Other retirements rejoined the rally with time penalties.
In addition to the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship title, Paddon was awarded NZ$5,000 from the FIA APRC Working Group, with Hunt receiving NZ$3,000 and Gilmour NZ$2,000.
Paddon and Hudson will be formally presented with their title at the FIA Awards event in Kigali, Rwanda, on 13 December.
