NZRC 2WD championship – mid-season update
The NZRC 2WD class of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship is the home of some of the brightest-shining up and coming starts of the NZRC and 2024 has been no different.
Five cars would enter the class for the opening round at Rally Otago, all various forms of Ford Fiesta. Both Dylan & Bayden Thomson and Bryn Jones/Sean Lockyear would line up in the latest specification Rally4 Ford Fiesta (1 Litre turbo), while paperwork delays meant the third Rally4 of Tim and Lauren Macksery would be on the sidelines, the pair forced into their previous generation R2T Fiesta (same engine, but with less power), while championship debutants Jack Stokes/Sarah Faulkner and James Worker/Mags Marshall were in the older 1600cc non-turbo R2 cars.
Defending champion Thomson was expected to set the pace and did so, finishing the day with a lead on almost a minute and a half over Stokes, with Worker and Mackersy third and fourth respectively. Jones was expected to challenge early on, but a spin on the opening stage damaged the radiator and ended his day.
Day two saw Thomson again top the sheets, although Stokes would take a well deserved stage win during the day on his way to second. Mackersy upped his pace, leapfrogging Worker on the final stage, the pair separated by just 3.9 seconds. All was not lost for Jones, his day two efforts earning him second place day points and a similar result in the power stage.
South Canterbury Rally, based in Timaru, hosted round two of the championship. Thomson was again the pace setter, but not so happy was Jones, a turbo actuator issue robbing him of turbo boost and most of his horsepower on the wide open roads. Stokes and Mackersy engaged in a day long battle, Mackersy having a storming run in the forestry stage while young Stokes would pull time on the open road stages, until a broken gear lever on the penultimate stage saw Stokes drop behind Mackersy, the duo claiming second and third. Worker ended a consistent day fourth ahead of a recovering Jones.
The third round, the Southern Lights Rally based in Invercargill saw teams return to rallying under the cover of darkness and that saw a shake up of the form book for the NZRC 2WD competitors.
Stokes would top the opening two stages, held on Friday night and pre-dawn Saturday, to hold a 16.6 second lead over Thomson, while Mackersy was fending off Jones, who suffered stuck behind a non-championship car in the dust on stage two.
It would take Thomson until stage four to claim the lead, the more powerful Rally4 car too fast for Stokes’ R2 car. By days end though, the margin was closer than had been seen all season at just 37.6 seconds, Jones taking his first podium of the year with third ahead of Mackersy, who will be relieved to have his new Rally4 car available for the remaining rounds.
After three rounds, Dylan and Bayden Thomson lead with a perfect score of 104 points, followed by Jack Stokes/Sarah Faulkner on 80. Tim and Lauren Mackersy sit third on 74, then Bryn Jones/Sean Lockyear on 52 and James Worker/Mags Marshall on 45.
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