The 24-year-old North Cantabrian christened his new Skoda Fabia Rally 2 evo in its first New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) hitout in the most satisfying way possible, with a 1min 34sec victory over Auckland’s Jack Hawkeswood.
Stokes’ success comes more than two decades after his dad’s Otago Classic Rally wins in 2002 and 2003.
‘‘Elated. Over the moon. It’s just insane,’’ was Stokes’ summation of how it felt to be standing on the podium’s top step, alongside his Gore co-driver, Hayden Graves.
Asked what it meant to celebrate with his family-run team and parents Brian and Anne surrounding him at the ceremonial finish, Stokes put it simply.
‘‘They are everything.’’
He had been trading top spots with his elder brother, Robbie, right through until early in the second day, when a suspension failure on a touring section required Robbie to temporarily withdraw.
Hawkeswood and co-driver Jason Farmer had started strongly on Saturday, leading for several of the morning’s stages, but ‘‘unfortunately copped a two-minute penalty checking out of service early’’, he said.
Fighting hard in the day’s final two stages of eight, they had clawed their way back to fourth overall and the second NZRC contenders. A further eight stages yesterday on the gravel roads south of Dunedin saw Hawkeswood retain his NZRC position and move up into second overall.
‘‘I’ve done the full lap over the podium in the past few years. Maybe next year we will go back to the beginning,’’ Hawkeswood said, referencing his win in 2024 and runner-up result last year.
It has been more than 15 years since she enjoyed the sweet spray of champagne at this rally.
‘‘I’m very happy. It’s been a long time coming. I absolutely love this rally, but it’s broken my heart so many times.
‘‘To finally get on the podium is a sweet reward and to have a third outright is great,’’ Gilmour said.
She paid tribute to Searcy’s professionalism calling her pace notes and her mechanic, Ollie Talbott, from the Paddon Rallysport team, for keeping the Citroen running smoothly.
Gilmour is not contesting the NZRC this year and will compete in select events.
Taumarunui's Quentin Palmer took the fourth spot in his Skoda Fabia Rally 2, with Hawkeswood’s father, Andrew, demonstrating that he still has what it takes to run with the youngsters, finishing fifth in his Mazda 2 AP4 and second in Allcomers.
Ari Pettigrew, of Rangiora, drove impressively to take the sixth spot in a Porsche 911, the fastest 2WD car. He also won the NZRC’s Open 2WD class, ahead of Dunedin couple Tim and Lauren Mackersey in their Ford Fiesta.
Queenstown’s Caleb McDonald had a successful first event in his recently purchased Mitsubishi Evo 8, with new co-driver Erin Kelly, to end up on the third step of the Allcomers’ podium and eighth overall.
He also leads the NZRC category 5 class going into the second round in Canterbury on May 31.
McDonald said he had a ‘‘good battle all weekend with Grant Blackberry’’ (Mitsubishi Evo X), with the Hastings driver ending up in ninth.
Otago International Classic Rally Ford Escort drivers were in the top-10 mix, with Irishman Kris Meeke roaring through to seventh overall and Christchurch’s consistently quick Deane Buist claiming the 10th spot.
Large crowds lined the 16 stages over the two-day Otago Rally, which had a fairly high rate of attrition — 56 of the 147 teams recorded a DNF.
