KEY POINTS:
Australian rally driver Glenn MacNeall believes Kiwi drivers, and the roads, are world class.
The Australian, who has competed in the World Rally Championship for the past three years, will add an international flavour to this month's International Rally of Whangarei.
The rally, on May 11-13, doubles as
the second round of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, and second round of the NZ Rally Championship.
MacNeall has just stepped down after three years as co-driver for fellow Australian Chris Atkinson in the Subaru World Rally Team competing in the FIA World Rally Championship.
He will co-drive for his girlfriend, top-rated Kiwi driver Emma Gilmour, in the Northland event.
The 34-year-old reckons the leading Kiwi combinations will present a major test for the other internationals.
"There's not a huge amount of difference between what you will see in Whangarei and the World Rally Championships that I've just left," he said.
He can't wait to return to the roads in the Kaipara and Whangarei regions that he knows so well.
The rally has a mixture of different roads and stages, including the gorge stage at Waipu.
Western Australian MacNeall joined Subaru in 2001 with Toshi Arai's WRC campaign before heading back to co-drive for Dean Herridge for Subaru in the Australian championship for two years.
MacNeall and Atkinson moved into the second WRC pairing with world champion Petter Solberg for Subaru in 2005.
MacNeall wanted a break from the rigours of the WRC, leaving to pair up with Gilmour in New Zealand.
Gilmour (Subaru WRX) is seeded 14th for the rally and third New Zealander.
American multi-millionaire Ken Block, co-founder and chief brand officer of DC Shoes, will compete in Sam Murray's FRAM team.
Seventeen-year-old rally sensation Kirsty Nelson is a confirmed starter. Nelson, who is still at high school, will travel back to her home in Northland for the event. Nelson wrapped up a fantastic season in 2006 by finishing the Rally of New Zealand and in the process becoming the youngest person to compete in a World Rally Championship event.
Nelson is also the first New Zealand woman to win a rally outright, after she finished first in the 2006 Clubmans Rally of Rotorua.
Two Japanese drivers have also entered the event.
Eleven drivers will battle for points in the Asia-Pacific Championship, and 18 in the New Zealand championship.
The Rally of Whangarei is broken into two separate events.
The first day will start in Whangarei, with seven special stages in the Waipu and Paparoa area before finishing back in Whangarei.
The second day features a separate rallysprint at Wearmouth Road near Paparoa. That will be run on an elimination format to find the winner and will be staged on a 5.2km stretch of road used last year as the shakedown road for the WRC.
