While F1 dominates, remember the rally

The Singapore Grand Prix takes centre stage in the motorsport world this weekend, and having revealed last weekend I’ll be attending in person to cheer Liam Lawson on, it’s been neat to hear from several other Kiwi fans who are doing the same.

While catching the action at Marina Bay, I will also be keeping an eye on the special stage times from Adelaide Hill Rally, which is the penultimate round of the Australian Rally Championship.

My rally attention will, of course, be on the performance of Hayden Paddon and John Kennard in Paddon’s Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car. Paddon and Kennard head into the event with a handy lead in the series and indeed have a chance of clinching the Australian crown at this event. Paddon is wisely talking down the opportunity to achieve this and is instead focused simply on doing his best to score another event win.

Run out of the town of Mt Barker, the Adelaide Hills event should play to Paddon and Kennard’s strengths; its roads are smoother than those used on most other Australian championship rounds, with conditions similar to the norm for a New Zealand rally.

While Paddon will start as favourite, he and Kennard continue to face formidable opposition from Toyota Gazoo Racing Australia’s Harry Bates/Coral Taylor and Lewis Bates/Anthony McLoughlin in their Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2s.

Looking ahead, next weekend is a motorsport double header, this time with Australia’s great race — the Bathurst 1000 — and Rally Bay of Plenty, the penultimate round of the New Zealand Rally Championship.

I’ll say a little more about Bathurst in next weekend’s Drivesouth, but since the Bay of Plenty event is a single-day rally run on the Saturday, it demands attention now.

Paddon is jetting home for the Tauranga-based event and is seeded second in his I20 AP4 behind defending national champion Ben Hunt (Skoda Fabia Rally2). Robbie Stokes (Fabia Rally2), Jack Stokes (Fiesta AP4), Jack Hawkeswood (Toyota Yaris Rally), Josh Marston (Holden Barina AP4) and Emma Gilmour (Citroen C3 Rally 2) are seeded behind him.

Along with Paddon and Gilmour, Tim and Laure Mackersy will be flying the flag for Otago in their Fiesta Rally 4. They are seeded right behind fellow class contender Bryn Jones, also in a Fiesta Rally 4.

Changing tack completely, it is sometimes said that a picture is worth a thousand words. That being so, it was unfortunate to see a cover-page pointer to an inside story on a "horrific" road rage incident in last Saturday’s ODT illustrated by a driver behind the wheel with his fist clenched in anger.

The clear implication of the photo was that a motorist had lost the plot and precipitated a road rage incident. The reality revealed by the story within was entirely different: a cyclist had perpetrated the confrontation, and allegedly rained down punches on a young motorist.

An image consistent with that reality could have been chosen for the cover.

David Thomson

Editor

Drivesouth