Green confirmed as first entry for Rally New Zealand 2011

Rally New Zealand 2011
Media release
21 April 2011

Green confirmed as first entry for Rally New Zealand 2011
In his 41st year of competition, Palmerston North’s Brian Green has submitted the first entry for Rally New Zealand, 2011 which runs from 7 to 8 May based from Hampton Downs midway between Auckland and Hamilton.

The two-day rally covers 284.6km of gravel roads around the northern Waikato and southern Auckland regions, utilising many of the rally stages used in last year’s WRC and earlier Rally New Zealand events. The high profile event also includes two days of additional competitive action on the Hampton Downs race circuit including Sunday’s special race meeting dubbed the ‘High Octane on Hampton’.

Rally New Zealand forms the second round of this year’s New Zealand Rally Championship and Green’s company is the co-sponsor with the premier rally series adopting a new name in 2011: the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, in association with Neil Allport Motorsports.

This year Green and co-driver Fleur Pedersen pilot a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X in numerous local and international events. The pair missed April’s opening NZRC round in Otago as they were competing in an event in New Caledonia, having finished fourth among the Asia Pacific Rally Championship competitors in Malaysia the weekend before.

Peter (‘PJ’) Johnston, chairman of Rally New Zealand says he was delighted to hear the news of Green’s entry.

“We’re really pleased to have Brian entered for Rally New Zealand. He has been a tremendous competitor over the years and is now a major supporter of rallying in New Zealand as the main backer of the championship series so it affirms his commitment to the sport about which he is so passionate,” says Johnston.

“Brian has an extraordinary zeal for this sport which takes him all over the world and he’s still posting competitive results. At the recent opening round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship in Malaysia, Brian finished fourth in a field that contained numerous highly ranked drivers. Then a week later he was competing in New Caledonia.”

Green regards Rally New Zealand as one of his preferred events, noting that the status of the roads used for this event is a strong lure: “I think nearly everybody who enters for Rally New Zealand enjoys the roads: Whaanga Coast, Te Akau, those sorts of iconic areas. Particularly Whaanga Coast, it’s an area I think most of the world knows about now after the huge coverage the WRC teams give it.”

During Rally New Zealand 2011, rally enthusiasts will see New Zealand’s best rally drivers compete in both the New Zealand Rally Championship classes and Possum Bourne Memorial Rally field.

“The event has multiple competition categories, from the premier four-wheel-drive cars to the open class, two-wheel-drive and the exciting historic field that make up the rally championship field,” explains Johnston. “Following them, the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally cars that include a wide variety of makes like Mitsubishi, Subaru, Ford, Mazda, BMW, Toyota and Hondas, making for one large event.”

Rally New Zealand 2011 gets underway with a driver autograph session and ceremonial start at Manukau City Centre from 6:00 pm on Friday 6 May. This is free to attend and all are welcome. The rally action starts from Hampton Downs on Saturday morning with teams facing eight special stages that day, including two super special stages run around the Hampton race circuit in between a series of classic car races at the circuit.

Sunday’s action is two-pronged – the rally cars head for Raglan and the iconic Whaanga Coast stage while, at Hampton Downs, a full day of competitive action titled ‘High Octane on Hampton’ takes place. Rally competitors return to Hampton for the final stage – another super special stage on the race track which the first car is scheduled to start at 4:00 pm. All rally crews then head to the ceremonial finish and podium presentations track-side from 5:30 pm.

More details, including a free spectator map are available from the Rally New Zealand website, www.rallynz.org.nz. There is no charge for spectators on any of the rally stages, while the adult ticket prices at Hampton Downs are $10 on Saturday and $25 on Sunday.

Fans can sign up for regular newsletters via the event’s website, www.rallynz.org.nz, and also keep up with the latest news via Rally New Zealand’s Facebook page.

ENDS