Caleb Macdonald is relishing his first win in rallying after victory last weekend at his home event in Wyndham. He is dreaming of replicating the feat in the New Zealand Rally Championship.
Macdonald claimed a commanding win at the non-championship Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally to cap what has so far been a stellar season for the Southland driver.
“The win is very special – it’s my first overall victory, and for it to be the Barry Robinson Memorial on the 50th Anniversary of the Eastern Southland Car Club is huge,” Macdonald said.
“I’m an ESCC member, and to do it with family and friends spectating meant a lot. It was a challenging rally with very slippery conditions. Tim [Smith], James [Worker] and Carter [Strang] were absolutely flying, and I loved the battles with them throughout the day.
“I’m very happy to get the result. Larisa [co-driver Larisa Biggar] did a great job alongside, and it was awesome for her to experience a blind rally in the deep south too.”
Macdonald currently leads the Rally Challenge 4WD class in the national championship after a dominant first half of the season, where he has won his class at each of the first three events.
Having debuted in the championship last year, where he was unlucky to miss out on the title, Macdonald has stepped it up in 2025.
“Each rally we try to improve and learn – Larisa has been a big help with my development, and I feel we gel really well in the car,” he said.
“We are pretty happy with how the NZRC season has gone so far, but realise that the second half of the season in the North Island will be a tough challenge. I think understanding how the championship works and what to expect at each round has given me some more confidence.
“The other thing that really helps is spending time in the driver’s seat. The first few rounds have been fairly close together, so it was great for building up momentum and confidence.
“I’m looking forward to getting up north to try out some of the more technical and tighter stages that will be prominent up there.”
After an impressive start to the 2024 season, Macdonald’s luck deserted him in the North Island, where issues thwarted his title charge.
“Yeah, last year we were fairly unlucky with the mechanical issues we had at Daybreaker and Whangarei. That’s the way motorsport goes sometimes, so this year we will be working hard to make sure the old Evo 6 is in as good a condition as it can be for the tough technical stages in the north,” he explained.
‘We are expecting the locals to be giving it everything they have, too, so we will need to be at our best to keep up.
“Recce prep will be super important too – the North Island stages have corners that link together so quickly, so if you get out of shape on one corner, it messes up the series of corners after.
“We are looking forward to the second half of the season and can’t wait to get stuck into it.”
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
