A little bit sideways Rallying in New Zealand, where we like to get A Little Bit Sideways! Up to date Rally News from teams around the country together with event reports.
NZ Rally Championship – Round 3 (Rally of Canterbury)
Christchurch rally driver Hamish Anderson is hoping for a trouble-free run at his home rally this weekend with a good chance to score maximum points and further extend his championship lead.
The defending Open two-wheel-drive champion hopes to consolidate his position after his closest rival, Brent Taylor, elected not to contest the North Canterbury based event.
“A solid run will put us in a very strong position with the North Island rounds still to come,” said Anderson.
“I’m gutted not to have Brent here this weekend so we can carry on the battle we had at Otago earlier this month. It would be nice to have a real challenge on our home roads.”
Although Taylor won’t be here at Canterbury to challenge Anderson, there are still plenty of quick cars two-wheel-drive cars to match himself against although they are not registered for championship points.
“We have to make sure we keep our focus on bagging maximum points this weekend and not get side-tracked racing non-championship cars,” he added.
For the first time in many years the Canterbury Rally will include mostly public road stages near Cheviot and Waikari before several stages in Ashley Forest, the traditional home of Canterbury rallying.
“I always seem to go better on the public road stages but I’m really looking forward to the challenge of the night stages in the forest,” Anderson added.
The Canterbury Rally begins with two special stages on Saturday night starting at 6pm after the official start at the Palms Shopping Mall. The action then resumes on Sunday morning with four public road stages before a return to Ashely Forest for a repeat of the night-time stages before the finish back at The Palms car park, the first car due in at 4.20pm.
After the opening two rounds of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Anderson and co-driver Sarah Brennan hold a 34 point lead over Taylor and co-driver Chris Ramsay.
The Anderson rally team are supported by Goodyear, Rally Tyres NZ Ltd, Mammoth Web, Autolign, Dunlop, P J Repairs, Beaurepaires and Inflatablez: The Cube Event Tent and Gull. Clearwater Painting, Renovating and Decorating has also joined the team as a new supporter.
