The World Rally Championship is coming back to New Zealand after a decade away.
Rally New Zealand, sponsored by Repco, will be run from September 29 until October 2 this year, it was announced on Thursday. The rally village and service park will be based in Auckland’s Wynyard Point and Wynyard Quarter.
The return of the rally championship was supposed to take place in 2020 but it was cancelled due to Covid.
New Zealanders Hayden Paddon, now driving for Hyundai, and Emma Gilmour are confirmed starters but intrigue remains over whether French rally legends Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, who have won 17 world championships between them, will make the trip to Auckland.
“The event has been five years in the making and there has been an extraordinary amount of hard work and discussions to bring the WRC back to New Zealand,” said Michael Goldstein, Rally New Zealand’s chief executive.
Auckland mayor Phil Goff said the rally village on Auckland’s waterfront was an apt way to celebrate the opening of New Zealand’s borders after two years of heavy Covid restrictions.
“The FIA World Rally Championship will draw thousands of visitors and spectators to our city centre, providing a welcome boost to businesses that have been impacted by the lockdowns and border closures,” he said.
Paddon said he was looking forward to driving on, and welcoming international drivers to, New Zealand’s world-renowned gravel roads.
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