North Island Rally Series entries building ahead of opening event

With less than a fortnight until the opening round gets a start line countdown, the inaugural Winmax Brake Pads North Island Rally Series continues to attract registrations.

Series officials report 34 drivers and 32 co-drivers have now registered for the five-round series which begins with the Allport Motorsports Bothwell Loop Rallysprint organised by the Pukekohe Car Club on Sunday March 19.

“Our first registrations were received just a few days after the series was announced back in December,” says NIRS coordinator Marty Roestenburg.

“Since then, the numbers grew steadily and have accelerated in the past few weeks. We have plenty of interest across the different classes and we’re very pleased to see a number of rookie competitors joining the sport, which is one of the main goals of the series.

The aim of the North Island Series is to revitalise club level rallying in the North Island and will offer competitors an affordable stepping stone between regional rallysprint competition and the New Zealand Rally Championship.

The series opener on Sunday March 19 is being staged in conjunction with the CPS Northern Rallysprint Series event on a 7.5km gravel venue near Glen Murray.

Roestenburg says the series remains committed to a five event calendar in its inaugural year, in spite of rally postponements in the Far North and Hawke’s Bay regions due to recent extreme weather events.

Round two of the North Island Series will now be the Taranaki Tarmac Rally on June 25 ahead of the Maramarua Forest event which will be round three on September 16.

Negotiations with Motorsport BOP are underway to include the Whakatane-based Rally Bay of Plenty as the penultimate round on October 14.

The final round remains the Waitomo Rally organised by the Hamilton Car Club on October 28.