The Sport Saloons Cup is ready to fire back into life, with a 31-car field heading to Ruapuna Raceway this weekend to open the 2026/27 season.
After celebrating its 10th anniversary last season, the popular South Island grassroots series enters season 11 with a mixture of established front-runners, returning competitors and plenty of fresh faces.
Round 1 takes place at Ruapuna on September 5 and 6, beginning a six-round championship that will visit Levels, Highlands and Teretonga before returning to Christchurch for the season finale in March.
McLean begins his title defence
There will be a familiar target at the front of Class A.
Dave McLean returns in his Honda Integra after an outstanding 2025/26 campaign saw him claim both the Class A and overall SS Cup championships.
But the chasing pack has reshuffled. Last season’s overall and Class A runner-up Lincoln Brunton isn’t among the Round 1 entries, leaving a number of established contenders with an opportunity to stake an early claim.
Peter Sutherland, Warren Walker, Lynden Prebble and Chris MacLeod form part of a sizeable Honda Civic contingent, while Josh Mitchell’s Subaru Impreza, Ross Jones’ Mazda Axela and Brad Rae’s Nissan Silvia bring some very different machinery to the fight.
Two particularly interesting moves additionally bolster Class A.
Carmen Liemburg steps up with her Mazda MX-5 after finishing runner-up in Class B last season and taking out the 2025/26 Handicap Championship, while Rae also makes the move after finishing third in last season’s Class B standings.
Add Logan Anderson’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo, James Swaney’s Toyota Altezza and Markku Braid’s Toyota Trueno, and there is plenty of variety among the 12 Class A entrants.
A new-look Class B
Class B could prove one of the most interesting contests of the opening weekend.
Last season’s champion Jason Kelly isn’t on the Round 1 grid, while Liemburg and Rae have both moved into Class A. That means none of last season’s top three Class B finishers will begin the new campaign in the class.
One driver making the step up is reigning Class C champion, Allan Garnett. Garnett enjoyed a hugely successful 2025/26 campaign in his Volkswagen Golf and now joins Class B, alongside fellow Golf driver Graeme Alloo.
Tim Leonard returns in the Nissan Pulsar, while Belinda Hargreaves is back aboard her BMW 325i. There is also a strong Honda presence, with Darren Willis and Riley Price joined by newcomers Ben Gormack and James Mitchell.
With last season’s established front-runners moving on, Class B heads to Ruapuna with a genuine opportunity for a new championship contender to emerge.
Class C brings the muscle
Class C again provides some of the most varied machinery on the grid.
The Ford Falcons of Tony Herbert and Ben Van Heeswyck will line up against a strong Holden Commodore contingent featuring Darren Harding, Mike Hammer, Mike McCarthy and Mick Ross.
Glen Wendelborn returns in his Volkswagen Golf, and Tim Yellowlees brings the Honda Integra, while newcomers Kyle Barringer and Cory Jamieson add a Toyota Corolla and Honda Torneo respectively.
With 11 cars entered, Class C should also play a significant role once the reverse-grid handicap races begin and the different performance levels of the SS Cup field come together.
Fresh faces join the Cup
Perhaps one of the most encouraging aspects of the Round 1 entry is the number of new competitors joining the series.
James Mitchell, Donovan Isted, Ben Gormack, Kyle Barringer, Cory Jamieson and Markku Braid are among the new names welcomed to the SS Cup grid, while Riley Price, Josh Ward and Belinda Hargreaves return to the series.
It gives the opening round a 31-car field spread across three classes, featuring everything from lightweight Hondas and Toyotas to turbocharged machinery and big Falcons and Commodores.
That diverse mix has become one of the SS Cup’s defining characteristics.
Four races to start season 11
Ruapuna will give competitors little opportunity to ease themselves into the new championship.
Following qualifying, the field faces four six-lap races across the weekend.
There is also a change for 2026/27: Race 1 at every round will now begin with a rolling start. The remaining races retain standing starts, including the familiar reverse-grid and handicap formats that have produced some of the series’ most unpredictable racing.
That means outright speed will once again be only one part of putting together a successful SS Cup weekend. Traffic management, consistency, and racecraft can be just as important, particularly once the handicap races bring the field together.
And at Round 1, everyone starts from zero.
After a 10th anniversary season that produced some outstanding racing and plenty of memorable moments, the slate is wiped clean. Thirty-one cars will roll into Ruapuna this weekend ready to begin the SS Cup’s 11th season.
With new competitors, drivers changing classes and some familiar names looking to pick up exactly where they left off, the 2026/27 Sport Saloons Cup is ready to go.
Header Image: Euan Cameron
