Rally champs confirm dates
There will be six rounds of fast-paced action for next year’s New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) after organisers have confirmed details of the 2024 calendar.
The opening three rounds of the competition, which is sponsored by Brian Green Property Group, will be held in the South Island before the series concludes in the North Island.
The championship begins at the traditional season-opening Otago Rally on April 12-14, followed by Rally South Canterbury on May 11 and the Invercargill-based Southern Lights Rally on June 22.
After a three-month break, the drivers will do battle again in the Daybreaker Rally based out of Manawatu on September 14 and at Rally Bay of Plenty on October 5.
The season will finish with the two-legged International Rally of Whangarei on November 8-10.
Blair Bartels, NZRC co-ordinator, says: “We are excited to confirm a six-round championship for 2024 that will see the calendar split into a South Island half and a North Island half, which should help competitors logistically as well as cutting down on our carbon footprint.
“We welcome the Southern Lights Rally – the first time the championship has visited Southland since 2004 – and look forward to getting back on some terrific roads in the deep south.
“It is great to be able to bookend the championship with a two-day event at the start and again at the end, which should mean the title race will almost certainly come down to the final round.”
Elton Goonan, chief executive of MotorSport New Zealand, says the confirmation of the race calendar shows the NZRC is going “from strength to strength”.
“A six-round championship with the addition of a new rally in Southland shows that rallying is alive and growing in New Zealand,” he explains.
“The confirmation that Daybreaker and Bay of Plenty events are back again after a triumphant return this year, along with the rest of the great events that have become staples of the championship, will make for another brilliant NZRC season.”
2024 NZRC calendar
Round 1: Rally of Otago, April 12-14
Round 2: South Canterbury Rally, May 11
Round 3: Southern Lights Rally, June 22
Round 4: Daybreaker Rally, September 14
Round 5: Rally Bay of Plenty, October 5
Round 6: International Rally of Whangarei, November 8-10
