Seven-time New Zealand Rally Championship winner Hayden Paddon hopes to claim the top spot at the 2024 Daybreaker Rally in Manawatū this September. Photo / Tayler Burke
Seven-time New Zealand Rally Championship winner Hayden Paddon hopes to claim the top spot at the 2024 Daybreaker Rally in Manawatū this September. Photo / Tayler Burke
The country’s top rally car drivers will meet in Manawatū for a shot at the New Zealand Rally Championship title.
In September, competitors from across the country will travel 192kms of rural roads for the Daybreaker Rally, the fourth event in the six-series New Zealand Rally Championship.
The circuit will take drivers through Rangitīkei’s Turakina Valley and towards the switchback hairpin of Ridge Road North near Mataroa, north of Taihape, the Peep-o-Day and McBeth roads.
Currently sitting in first place in the championship is Robbie Stokes from Waikuku, North Canterbury. It will be Stokes’s first time competing in the Daybreaker Rally.
“I’m leading the championship and this is a chance to do my best about keeping it. It’s also an event I’ve never done before and I’ve heard it is a must-do.”
Racing runs in the family, he said, with his dad Brian winning the New Zealand Rally twice. Stokes has progressed through the ranks of top-level two-wheel-drive and is now settling into being a championship-winning driver.
Robbie Stokes, pictured here with his sister Amy after a podium finish at the 2024 Southern Lights Rally, is currently in first place for the 2024 New Zealand Rally Championships. He said he looks forward to competing in the Daybreaker Rally for the first time in September. Photo / Tayler Burke
Stokes, who drives a Ford Fiesta built to fit the New Zealand AP4 formula requirements, said he plans to go faster than the people he needs to beat and finish strong.
“As we’ve not been to Daybreaker before, it’s going to be a bigger challenge compared to our rivals that have. So it will be about keeping it simple as we are heading into unchartered territory. We want to keep that championship lead at the end of it but what happens in the middle is what will happen – we will do our best.”
Hayden Paddon from Cromwell, winner of seven New Zealand Rally championship titles, the Asia Pacific Rally Championship and the 2023 European Rally Championship is ready to race Manawatū's rural roads and defend his 2023 Daybreaker Rally win.
Paddon has a bit of catching up to do, missing the season’s opening round as he was competing in the European Rally Championship.
“It is always a tough ask with the level of competition here in New Zealand and given our place in the championship since we had to miss the opening round, makes it tougher.”
He said the community’s support is a drawcard for entering the event.
“Last year we saw a large turn-out of cars and a lot of spectators – when you have a crowd it always makes it a bit more special.”
Paddon, who drives a factory-built Hyundai i20N, said the Daybreaker Rally is a great way to prepare for international events.
“New Zealand has the best roads in the world and the reason we keep coming back to do these events is the best preparation I can get for our offshore campaigns. The Daybreaker proved last year how good the rural roads of the Manawatū and Rangitikei are and we are looking forward to getting back on them in 2024. From a road point-of-view, they are quite tight and technical making them very different to the previous three rounds of the championship (held in the South Island).”
Paddon is currently in fourth place in the national championship, 24 points behind first-placed Stokes. Dunedin driver Emma Gilmour is only one point behind.
Gilmour said she’s looking forward to racing the roads again.
“It’s been nine years since I raced in the Daybreaker Rally. The event is an opportunity for seat time and getting confidence back plus the organisers do such a great job at putting on a cool event I’m looking forward to taking part in another one. The roads are super cool, challenging and unique to the area. It’s challenging because they are tight and twisty.”
Emma Gilmour, who joined McLaren in 2022 as their first female driver, is looking forward to racing Manawatū's rural roads in September's Daybreaker Rally. Photo / Tayler Burke
Gilmour, who will be behind the wheel of a factory-built Citroen C3 rally car for the event, was selected as a reserve driver for the new Extreme E International series and joined McLaren in 2022 as their first female driver.
“For me, it is a very gender-inclusive sport. It’s more about your passion than your gender and mine is behind the wheel. Being a female and doing what I do is more of a guiding light to others than any point to prove about breaking barriers. Where possible I seek females to join our team for the experience rather than be showing what I can instead of what I am passionate about.”
She said motorsport has created many opportunities.
“These are global and being a role model for what you can achieve when you put your mind to it. From time with the then Prince Charles to driving the race car raced by the late Bruce McLaren, I’ve had some genuine pinch myself moments over the past few years.”
When: Friday- Saturday, September 13-14. Friday, September 13: Meet and greet and car show at 4pm at The Square, Palmerston North. 5.30pm car convoy to the Arena for the head-to-head Harcourts AFC Super Special Stage at 6pm. Saturday, September 14: Meet and greet, Feilding Town Centre, noon.
