Limelight shifts for locals

With the region’s usual suspects not in contention for Otago Rally national championship class-winning honours, the focus broadens further afield than Hayden Paddon and Emma Gilmour, as the two-day event begins today.

Cromwell-based Paddon is off competing in the World Rally Championship’s Rally Croatia, while hometown hopeful Gilmour has entered the Allcomers category because she is not contesting the full 2026 New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC).

Otago’s next highest-seeded driver is Queenstown’s Caleb MacDonald, who has a dual-pronged approach to this weekend’s rally. Competing for the first time with Australian co-driver Erin Kelly in a new Mitsubishi Evo 8, MacDonald is entered in both the NZRC 4WD Challenge Class (Category 5) and also the Allcomers class.

"Our NZRC category competes on the Saturday only, as it’s aimed at being a budget friendly class.

"We are doing both days of racing though, so are also competing in Allcomers over the Saturday and Sunday," MacDonald explained.

Last year delivered all the motorsport feelings for him as he experienced the lofty high of winning his first outright event — Southland’s Barry Robinson Memorial Wyndham Rally in August — followed by the crushing blow of crashing heavily in the Bay of Plenty Rally two months later.

Discovering rallying later in life, 2024 was MacDonald’s rookie NZRC season, so to achieve a victory only one year later was special.

"I was very happy to get my name on the side of that trophy in some very trying conditions," he said.

Motorsport is a cruel mistress, however, and a barrel roll at the penultimate NZRC round left his trusty Evo 6 written-off. It was only through the generosity of a fellow competitor loaning him a car that MacDonald was able to go out and win the NZRC 4WD Rally Challenge title at the final round in Whangarei.

In the off season he set about "working pretty hard to find another vehicle". Cue the shiny new red Evo 8, which MacDonald describes as a "little bit of an upgrade" and carries on some of his former Evo’s successful legacy with salvaged parts transplanted into the new charger.

With his regular co-driver, Larisa Biggar, stepping into the rally’s international star driver Toby Price’s Toyota Yaris for this event only, MacDonald is expecting Otago to be a learning curve.

"We did well last year, but this year we have a new car, so we are starting from scratch a bit. I’m going to enjoy it and have some fun."

Biggar will be back on duty with MacDonald for the rest of the season as they look to defend their 2025 NZRC 4WD class title over the following five rounds.

Bannockburn-based Duncan McCrostie, whose car is listed as a VW Polo Proto, is seeded in the top 25 entries. Recently owned by Oamaru’s Scott Simpson, the VW is essentially constructed from a "Polish-built shell with Evo X running gear," McCrostie said.

The car was built over 2014 and 2015 by M2 Competition for Pukekohe businessman Shannon Chambers. It made its competition debut at the 2015 Rally Coromandel before being bought by Andy Martin at the end of the 2016 rally season. Martin’s debut saw a podium result at the clubman’s Rally Waitomo.

After a couple of further outings, the VW then headed south when it was purchased by Simpson. The Oamaru driver enlisted Paddon Rallysport to assist with its development and it eventually ended up in McCrostie’s garage.

After leasing a Mazda 2 AP4 car a few seasons back, he decided to buy his own rally machine, but was unwilling to talk up any high calibre performance. Instead, McCrostie insisted the 50th anniversary milestone was what drew him to the event and he was enlisting the tried-and-true Kiwi approach of giving it a crack. With Australian co-driver Greg Fitzgerald sitting alongside him calling the pace notes, his rally mantra was "no leadup and no expectation."

This is McCrostie’s 19th start on the Otago Rally, and his first since 2022. He has previously been a top 10 finisher overall and stood on the podium in the Classic Rally.

Dunedin duo Tim Mackersy and co-driving wife Lauren will be back on board their recently upgraded Ford Fiesta Rally4.

As the Mackersys enter their third season in the car, they have elected to move from the Category 2 for up to 2-litre cars, into the Category 3 FIA 2WD Championship for open 2WD vehicles, where "kind of anything goes", Mackersy said.

Last year, he battled closely with Cambridge’s Bryn Jones throughout the season in the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) 2WD class, with the 23-year-old Jones securing the category 2 win at the final round in Whangarei.

The youngster returns to Europe full-time this year to contest the 2026 Peugeot Rally Cup Iberia, leaving the Mackersys looking forward to broadening their competition scope in a new class.

Despite being "a little bit down on power" the 1-litre, three-cylinder turbocharged Fiesta handles well and has been a reliable option, Mackersy said.

The couple plan to only contest the three South Island NZRC rounds this season, due to work and family commitments. Round two is Rally Canterbury on King’s Birthday Weekend (May 31), while the third round of the championship will see teams head south to Invercargill for the Barry Robinson Memorial Rally Southland on July 18.