Taranaki Tarmac Rally to be hotly contested by NI Rally Series competitors

The SBT Group Taranaki Tarmac one-day rally takes place this Saturday 12 July 2025 with the rivalry amongst the 2025 Hawkeswood Mining North Island Rally Series (NIRS) competitors expected to step up a notch. The question to be answered after nine Special Stages is ‘Will this be a year a rally car beats a Targa spec car?’

Quentin Palmer (Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) stamped his mark on the 2025 NIRS season after taking first round honours in early May winning the Ruarangi Rd Rallysprint. It was his first outing in his new Skoda, and he beat home last season’s champion Phil Campbell (Ford Fiesta AP4).

“Taranaki will be interesting for us,” commented Palmer. “Our car originally came into NZ as a tarmac car before being converted to gravel spec. I definitely have to do some tarmac practice, and we have a lot of setup changes to make.”

However, traditionally the Taranaki Tarmac Rally has been the domain of bitumen specialists and last year’s winner Cameron Ross/Matthew Buer (Subaru Impreza) is seeded first and will be hard to beat as will second seed David Rogers (Mitsubishi Evo 10). Also making an appearance in the North Island and not to be discounted is Marcus van Klink (Mazda RX8) who will start third on the road ahead of Palmer.

The rally comprises 204kms of Touring Stags and nine Special Stages totalling 124kms with four of them being repeated. As per MotorSport NZ Tarmac Rally requirements this event runs with 200 Kilometer per hour speed limit. The new route includes the infamous tunnels and the spectacular Inglewood yumps.

Co-Chairman Sean Bryce said “The Rally Committee are excited about the new route and location of this years Rally and hope this Event will go down well with the residents, local community and the competitors”

Missing from the start list is last season’s NIRS champion Phil Campbell (Ford Fiesta AP4). Current Class C (2WD 1601-2000) leader, John Whooley (Honda Civic) will look to extend his lead while in Class D (2WD 2001 and over), Charlie Evans (Mazda RX7) resumes his battle with Jeff Torkington (Toyota MR2).

In the Classic Class E, Kyle Percival (Ford Escort Mk2) will have his hands full. Palmer will want to extend his lead in Class F (4WD 1601-2000) as will Ben Hubbard (Subaru Impreza) in Class G (4WD 2001 and over) and Bradley Stewart (Subaru Impreza) in Class I (4WD Pre 1996).

Scholarship recipients (with a discounted entry fee) are first time rookies young Samuel and Matthew Broadbent (Mitsubishi Evo) from Ngatea who have been showing fast pace at recent Rallysprints.

The Clubman’s and National Rally is promoted by the Taranaki Car Club in conjunction with the South Taranaki Car Club, and will take place in the New Plymouth and North Taranaki regions. The first car gets away from the Plymouth International Hotel at 07.00 hours, starting Special Stage 1 at 07.30hrs, returning at approximately 16.00 hours to the Plymouth for the champagne finish and after match meal and prizegiving.