Images by Geoff Ridder
It’s the fastest and arguably hardest rally in the New Zealand Rally Championship, and this year the Otago Rally fell once more to the talented pairing of Hayden Paddon and John Kennard.
Paddon clinched his ninth Otago victory in Dunedin, resetting several stage records along the way. His Hyundai i20 AP4 battled through a string of niggling issues on the event’s first day and hit top pace on the Sunday stages.
He broke his own stage record on the famous Kuri Bush stage.
The finish order highlighted the category battle being fought out between locally built AP4 cars and the slightly more expensive but factory built R5 and Rally2 cars. Half of the top ten after two days of rallying were AP4s.
Second place was taken by the new Škoda NZ rally team whose driver, Ben Hunt, put together a fine rally in his first outing in the new factory Fabia R5 Evo.
Hunt made a careful start, having only had a day to run the car on roads at Warkworth.
Auckland’s Raana Horan, running a first evolution Fabia, scored a podium placing for his efforts. Horan is awaiting the chance to wheel out his newly acquired Fabia R5 Evo, which has the same spec as Ben Hunt’s car, but was putting the older Fabia to good use in the meantime.
He set stage times inside the top five to stay ahead of Robbie Stokes in a Ford Fiesta AP4.
Dunedin driver Emma Gilmour had entered the second day’s competition third overall but struck encountered brake issues in her Suzuki Swift AP4. Sorting the issue in the service park cost her a time penalty but she fought hard in her chase and was fifth overall.
Seasoned driver Todd Bawden was sixth overall in his new Ford Fiesta R5 MkII just ahead of youngster Ari Pettigrew.
The first two-wheel drive car home was Dylan Thomson in his Ford Fiesta ST150, while John Silcock was second in his Mazda RX7.
The next round of the championship is the International Rally of Whangarei on 13-15 May.
Results, top ten, Rally of Otago
1. Hayden Paddon/John Kennard, Hyundai i20 AP4
2. Ben Hunt/Tony Rawstorn, Škoda Fabia Rally2
3. Raana Horan/Michael Connor, Škoda Fabia R5
4. Robbie Stokes/Amy Stokes, Ford Fiesta AP4
5. Emma Gilmour/Mal Peden, Suzuki Swift AP4
6. Todd Bawden/Paul Burborough, Ford Fiesta R5 Mk II
7. Ari Pettigrew/Jason Farmer, Holden Barina AP4
8. Dylan Turner/Jeff Cress, Audi S1 AP4
9. Regan Ross/Katrina Renshaw, Ford Fiesta R5
10 Jeff Ward/Murray O’Neill, Subaru Impreza WRX.
