In doing so, the club paid tribute to South Island rally great Barry Robinson, who died in March 2022.
Robinson was a popular competitor who led the 1983 New Zealand Rally Championship into the final round only to suffer an engine failure which cost him the title and left him the championship runner-up.
Robinson farmed in the Mokoreta area near Wyndham during the height of his rallying career and had plenty of success in rallies.
A quality field will descend on Wyndham for this year’s event.
The 2023 winners, Andrew and Hayden Graves, of Gore, in their Mitsubishi EVO 3, are the top seeds.
The duo did not compete here last year, instead concentrating their efforts on the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) in which Andrew won the drivers’ title and son Hayden the co-driver championship.
The second seed is the driver second in the NZRC, Robbie Stokes, of Waikuku, in the Ford Fiesta used by Gore driver Derek Ayson the past two years. Stokes is fresh from his fever NZRC round win at Canterbury recently and is coming south looking for points to assist his challenge for the Mainland Rally Series which he leads.
He will have his sister, Amy, co-driving in this event.
Caleb Macdonald, of Queenstown, and co-driver Larisa Biggar, of Australia, are the third seeds in an EVO 6.
Macdonald finished third in 2023 and was very much in contention last year until a tyre came off the bead in the fourth special stage. He is third in the Mainland Series and leading the NZRC.
Carter Strang, of Wallacetown, runner-up in this event for the past two years, starts behind him at four with Catriona Flynn alongside. Strang charged home last year taking 8.1sec out of winner Mark McMillan’s lead on the final stage. Strang thoroughly enjoyed last year’s event.
"They are magic roads and it is so laid-back. I was touch and go in that last stage though."
Strang finished second in last year’s NZRC and was rookie of the year while Flynn was runner-up in the championship co-driver standings.
There are two Australians in the rally — Richard Galley and Peter Leicht — and entries from all over New Zealand including from as far north as Ruakākā.
The rally is based around the township of Wyndham, 45km east of Invercargill and 25km south of Gore.
It will start at the MLT Three Rivers Hotel in Redan St, Wyndham at 9am on Saturday.
The first special stage is Jesco Hydraulics Tuturau over 21.15km. Challenge Marshalls Garage Wyndham Valley, over 17.49km, is the second stage before the 28.12km Derek Ayson-PGG Wrightson Real Estate Waikawa Valley stage.
Stage 4, the Marshall’s Excavating-Pine Bush stage over 25.99km is followed by a new stage, the 13.95km Advance Agriculture Graham Rd, before the final 30.45km iHire 0800 24 7 Rent Fortification stage.
The first car is expected to cross the finish line back at the MLT Three Rivers Hotel in Wyndham just before 3.30pm.
During the day there will be three service parks — the first in Wyndham after stage 1 and two in Tokanui, about 44km from Wyndham, the first after stage 3 and then again after stage 5.
The winning crew will be awarded the Barry Robinson Memorial Trophy.
The rally is round 4 of the Mainland Rally Championship, round 4 of the H6 Cup and also carries points towards the Eastern Southland Car Club Rally Championship.
Sponsors this year include Traffic Management Services and Yuasa Batteries with support from the Southland District Council, Gore District Council and the landowners on the rally route.
By Lindsay Beer
