WRC to return to NZ after a decade

After a decade apart, the WRC is returning to New Zealand. This year’s Rally New Zealand, which is sponsored by Repco, will take place from September 29 to October 2. In Auckland’s Wynyard Point and Wynyard Quarter, the rally village and service park will be located.

The rally championship was scheduled to resume in 2020, however owing to Covid, it was postponed. Hayden Paddon, who is currently racing for Hyundai, and Emma Gilmour are also definite starters, but whether French rally giants Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier, who have won 17 world championships between them, will make the journey to Auckland remains to be seen.

Michael Goldstein, Rally New Zealand’s chief executive said, “The event has been five years in the making and there has been an extraordinary amount of hard work and discussions to bring the WRC back to New Zealand.”

The rally village on Auckland’s waterfront, according to Auckland mayor Phil Goff, was an appropriate way to commemorate the opening of New Zealand’s borders after two years of severe Covid restrictions.

Phil Goff said, “The FIA World Rally Championship will draw thousands of visitors and spectators to our city centre, providing a welcome boost to businesses that have been impacted by the lockdowns and border closure.“

Paddon said he was looking forward to driving on New Zealand’s world-famous gravel roads and meeting foreign drivers.

Well, World Rally Championship is returning to New Zealand after almost 10 years of its absence from the country. It is great news for WRC fans based out of NZ.