Fresh from his first-ever New Zealand Rally Championship round win at Canterbury recently, Waikuku driver Robbie Stokes comes south to take on the 2025 Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally on Saturday, 2 August.
Stokes, who is currently second in the National Championship and leading the Mainland Rally Series, comes south to try to add to his Mainland Series points.
To do so, he has come to an arrangement with David Kirk to run his Ford Fiesta Proto, the car that Derek Ayson has driven in the event for the past two years.
Another motivation for the trip south is the fact that Stokes says he has heard rumours that Wyndham could become a round of the New Zealand Championship in the future, and he is keen to “have a bit of a look at the roads in the area.”
It is not Stokes’ first foray to the Wyndham Rally, however.
Last year, he ventured south on another mission to keep his Mainland Series points ticking over and also to get seat time before his next New Zealand Championship outing that followed the Wyndham event. He eventually finished runner-up in the Mainland Series, a series he won in 2021.
Last year, he drove a leased Subaru Impreza H6 in the event, and despite the car being very different to his NZRC car, he came home seventh.
“The H6 took a bit to get used to. I was having to keep the revs up as it had a lot less horsepower than what I am used to, and I had to change gear a lot. The steering was a lot different, too. It was a great day, though, brilliant roads and great people.”
This year, Stokes has again been having great results, culminating in that maiden NZRC Rally win in Canterbury recently, although a problem at South Canterbury sees him second in that championship currently.
“It is looking really good with the new car,” he said, referring to the Skoda Fabia Rally 2 he is running in the New Zealand Championship.
However, he will run in David Kirk’s car for Wyndham. “I rang Kirky to see if it was an option. A lot of work has been done to it, and it is probably the closest thing to the AP4 Skoda I could get for this event.”
The Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally will be centred on the township of Wyndham, 45 kilometres east of Invercargill and 25km south of Gore.
It will start at the Three Rivers Hotel in Redan Street, Wyndham at 9.00 am on Saturday, 2 August, from where competitors will tackle six Special Stages before the event ends back at the Three Rivers Hotel in Wyndham with the first car due at 3.30 pm.
Header Image: Graeme Fraser.
