Campbell looks to continue forward drive at Raglan

Tauranga’s Phil Campbell heads to the final round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Hyundai NZ Raglan Rally of the Coast, looking to continue the impressive increase of speed with his new car.

Campbell debuted The Roofing Store Ford Fiesta AP4+ car at Canterbury and has showed plenty of potential already, including a strong sixth place at the previous national championship round in Coromandel and more recently narrowly missing an outright rally win at the non-championship Rally of the North.

While the Raglan Rally of the Coast is a new event on the NZRC calendar, the roads are steeped in history having been a feature of World Rally Championship rounds held in New Zealand in the past. Campbell has made his way through the infamous Whaanga Coast just twice, when it was repeated in Rally NZ in 2010, but is excited to take on the challenge in the new car.

After missing the last national championship round, regular co-driver Mal Peden returns to the team having partnered New Zealand’s WRC star Hayden Paddon to two NZRC round wins in 2018.

“The whole team has worked so hard to not only get this car up and running, but also give us a really competitive car. Coromandel and Rally of the North have been great confidence boosters and we’d love to round out the year with another strong result,” says Campbell. “Having Mal back in the car will be awesome too. Hopefully he’s picked up a few tips and tricks from Hayden that will make us even faster.”

The Hyundai NZ Raglan Rally of the Coast gets underway with a ceremonial start in Raglan from 5pm on Friday. The following day, teams will contest eight special stages on some of the most iconic gravel roads in world rallying, covering 171.8 kilometres, before finishing at the Raglan airfield from 5:15pm.

Media release: BB Media
Photo: Geoff Ridder