By the numbers – Google Grant’s key numbers for Central Machine Hire Otago Rally
With Hayden Paddon, so deservedly, back in the WRC and Ben Hunt stepping away from the NZRC after more than a decade at the sharp end of the championship, 2026 will be the first year in living memory that the NZRC will be contested without a Gold Star Drivers Champion participating.
Even back in 2015 the 1985/1988 champion Brian Stokes ran an Escort in the Cat 4 Historic Rally Challenge category – co-driven by Amy, Robbie and Jack’s Mum, Anne.
So, this year will have a very different look to who is fighting at the front, with undoubtedly the pre-season favorites being ‘2 x ‘Jacks’ and a double ‘Ace’, as two-time NZRC Round Winner Robbie Stokes – now his Skoda has been repaired – will lead away his younger brother Jack and Jack Hawkeswood from the Ceremonial Start of the Central Machine Hire Otago Rally in the Octagon on Friday evening.
Since Jack Stokes joined the Cat 1 contingent, he has been a revelation, immediately setting the NZRC pace at Otago last year and repeating that front running form at the season ending Whangarei Rally last year.
If you, respectfully, set aside Ben Hunt’s title winning performances throughout the season, where he won 27 stages on his way to winning four of the six rounds, these three top contenders fought tooth and nail against each other at almost every round.
There was a total of 65 Stages contested last year, with Robbie completing 56 (after his BoP exclusion) and he beat the 2 x Jacks on 30 of those 56, making a 54% Strike Rate.
Jack S set times on 54 stages – retiring on Leg 2 at Otago when closing in on Robbie for the Rally Lead, and unfortunately not a single stage at South Canterbury – for 24 fastest times (44%).
Jack H completed all but 2 stages – after stopping in the second pass of the Kakahu Forest stage at South Canterbury, when having his best run of the season, beating the Stokes brothers on all the preceding 6 stages. So, Jack made it through 63 stages for 11 ‘victories’ (17%).
Both Jacks are in state-of-the-art cars this year with Jack S moving up from the Ford Fiesta AP4 into a Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo – to match his brother – while Jack H is in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 he got to debut at Whangarei, having been in an AP4 version for the other five rounds.
And with these three young guns – all of whom have Gold Star winning fathers, after Andrew Hawkeswood won in 2017 (without winning a round) – it is highly likely that this year will see the first ever 2nd generation national champion.
However, although they might not initially be on the pace of the leading trio, there are two other Skoda mounted peddlers who are very likely to come into contention as the season progresses.
Dylan Thomson has been given the opportunity to drive the current championship winning car of the last two years – the ex-Ben Hunt Skoda – and the current North island Rally Series champion, Quentin Palmer, is doing a fine job in the similar spec ex-Raana Horan Skoda.
Both are sure to be right there to take advantage of any opportunities that might come their way.
So, all this means the total number of outright NZRC rounds won by the class of 26 is just 3 – Robbie has 2 (Canterbury and Whangarei both last year) and Jack H with one – Otago 2024.
In fact, there is also only one co-driver calling notes this year who has stood on the top step of an NZRC podium – Jason Farmer has done it 4 times, most recently with Jack H at Otago in 2024 and the other three with David Holder, twice in their championship winning year in 2016 at Whangarei and Gisborne (Evo8) and at Otago in 2017 in the Hyundai i20 AP4+.
So, the most successful NZRC participant at Otago is actually Dylan’s Skoda which Ben drove to 5 Round wins – 4 last year and the 2022 Rally Hawkes Bay.
OTHER NZRC CATEGORIES
While the Overall Championship will have a first-time winner come Rally Bay of Plenty at the end of October, several other categories have their defending title holders returning.
Both the Rally Challenge and Cat 5A see Caleb Macdonald and Larisa Biggar back, albeit in a different Mitsubishi (Evo8) after their high-speed incident in the forest at BoP, and they can expect quite a battle from Hawkes Bay’s Grant Blackberry, who is also going for his second Rally Challenge title after he and Co-Driver Ric Chalmers won in 2018.
Category 3 welcomes back the evergreen Dave Strong and Rob Scott, who certainly won’t have it all their own way this year, with double Junior Champion Ari Pettigrew running his new Porsche and Tim Mackersy opting for Cat 3 this year. Andy Martin is also due to join the fray with his Porsche after Otago.
In Cat 5c young Josh Keighley and his Aussie offsider Neill Woolley will be favored to defend their title in the H6 dominated category.
In fact, all six entries are in Subarus, and all are South Islanders.
Defending Junior champ Jack Stokes is expected to dominate now Jack Hawkeswood is ‘too old’, but should he falter, there is a cluster of very rapid Cat 5ers – Josh Keighley, Thomas Paul moving into 4WD, the very quick young James McIver, Harri Silcock (in Dad John’s Evo 6), and Harri’s brother Josh in a Fiesta R2.
All six Juniors are 2nd Generation Drivers – with Josh Keighley actually a 3rd generationer – with Grandad Morrie Chandler and both his Mum, Suzanne and Dad, Andrew, who is competing in the Allcomers Division, while sister Amy is also in the Classic 4WDs in another H6 Impreza.
Mike Cameron is back for a final fling in LILEVO and will be looking to retain the Gold Card title and match fellow Gold Carder Dave Strong’s two titles.
Since its inception in 2024 the International Category has reached double figures this year, with five countries represented and we are very pleased to welcome back Vanuatu’s Nelson Law and Pierre-Henri Brunet as well as Fuyuhiko Takahashi from Japan. Irish/Aussies Glenn Alcorn and Richie Dalton return and have brought over compatriots Sean McAloon and Michael O’Hagan to experience the fabulous Otago roads. Aussie Robert Darrington also returns to Otago and Dakar Legend Toby Price will debut the Toyota GR Yaris Cup Car, and it’s a big Kia Ora to husband-and-wife team from Spain, Edgar Vigo Lopez and Fatima Ameneiro who are the TER Series champions.
The 12 x Rookies are a diverse mix this year, with a few you might regard as anything but a Rookie. Juniors Harri and Josh Silcock and James McIver are expected and Rory Lawn is starting his sixth rally. Four of our Internationals are also new to the NZRC, which makes Michael O’Hagan, Sean McAloon, Edgar Vigo Lopez and none other than Toby Price eligible.
Of the Kiwis, believe it or not, Derek Ayson, Mark Parsons, Roger McKay and Ben Harding are all first timers competing in the NZRC.
CURRENT STAGE RECORDS
With such a great selection of roads available to the Otago organisers, this 50th edition is running almost entirely on public roads and there are several stages in this No Repeat Stages route, that have not been used for some time.
One that caught my eye was Stage 3 Athenaeum – the 13km test west of the Lawrence Service Park – and is the reverse direction run of the well-known Cockleshell stage.
The current records were set way back in 2011 and the record holders are a who’s who of NZ rallying.
OVERALL: ANDREW HAWKESWOOD (Audi Quattro) 6:50.4 (114kph)
ALLCOMERS: BRIAN STOKES (Ford Escort Mk2) 7:17.5
CLASSICS: JEFF JUDD (Ford Escort RS1800) 7:26.1
KIWI 2WD: BEN HUNT (Ford Fiesta ST150) 7:43.5
So it will be interesting to see who comes away with the family bragging rights come late Saturday morning, and how much they can beat these records by.
AND FINALLY
It has been brought to my attention (by the NZRC MRF Tyre Supplier) that last month at the Westland Rally, the Stage 8 Result could well be the first time a 2WD car has beaten a Rally2 outright on a gravel stage in this country.
Over the 17.76km Mitchells 2 – Deane Buist (Toyota Trueno) won the stage with a 9:41.2, which was 1.2 seconds faster than Dylan Thomson (Skoda Fabia Rally2 evo) 9:42.4.
Enjoy the Rally and Thanks for yverything Morrie!
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