Cantabrian Robbie Stokes claimed an emotional maiden rally win at home on the roads he grew up on in the third round of the New Zealand Rally Championship on Sunday.
Stokes, in his Stokes Motorsport Skoda Fabia Rally 2, led from start to finish at the Rally of Canterbury to beat reigning national champion Ben Hunt by 12 seconds.
Hunt (Skoda New Zealand Fabia Rally 2) was second ahead of Jack Stokes in the Stokes Motorsport Ford Fiesta AP4, who was a further 50.1 seconds adrift.
The younger Stokes’ podium finish adds to an already special day for the family as Robbie becomes the second-ever second-generation driver to win a round of the national championship, following Jack Hawkeswood’s win at Otago last year.
Haydn Mackenzie completed a solid fourth-place finish in the Albany Toyota Yaris AP4, while Hawkeswood (Force Motorsport Toyota GR Yaris) was fifth.
Bryn Jones held off Tim Mackersy in a back-and-forth battle in the NZRC 2WD class between the two Ford Fiesta Rally 4 drivers.
Mackersy endured a mechanical problem in the penultimate stage that ended the fight.
Paul Cross (Toyota Corolla) was the sole finisher in the Open 2WD championship.
Deane Buist completed another dominant performance to win the Historic 2WD class in his Ford Fiesta – making it three class wins on the bounce. Tim McIver was second in his season debut in the Ford Escort, while Stephen Gill (Ford Escort) was third.
Caleb Macdonald picked up his third straight win in the Rally Challenge 4WD class in his Mitsubishi EVO 6 – seeing off the challenge of Josh Keighley (Subaru Impreza) and Brian Green (Mitsubishi EVO 9), while Keighley also won the Group A Challenge class.
Ian Warren survived the challenging day in his Nissan Pulsar to win the Rally Challenge 2WD class.
The championship takes a break over the winter months before returning with Rally Coromandel on August 23.
Header Image: Geoff Ridder
