About the event 

The International Rally of Whangarei is part of the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), one of the premier regional championships in world rallying and is contested by teams from New Zealand, Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, New Caledonia and Sweden running primarily Super2000, Group N, or production, rally cars.

In 2019 the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship plans a major change to its format, designed to reduce the cost of logistics and add value to the FIA APRC title, by creating more competition.

The new format will see the 2019 championship decided at a ‘grand’ final, expected this year to be the China Rally (30 Nov – 1 Dec). For a competitor to qualify for the final they must enter any two APRC ‘Cup’ events in the Pacific or Asia, events that will have the additional status of being rounds of either the FIA APRC Pacific Cup or the FIA APRC Asia Cup. The Pacific Cup is intended as a stepping stone to full APRC competition.  An Asian Cup runs at other APRC Rounds.

In 2019 the APRC comprises 8 rounds including a grand finale:

The International Rally of Whangarei incorporates the second round of the MotorSport New Zealand-sanctioned New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) where local teams can compete internally for NZRC points. Run as a subsidiary event it includes clubmans competitors, to incorporate those cars not compliant with the APRC international regulations. The Clubmans event also gives competitors with lower specification or older cars a way to compete in their own overall and class battles and be part of an international event without the cost of full international competition.

The event commences with an opening ceremony commencing on Friday 3 May with the following two days comprising approx. 242 km of competitive gravel stages in the Whangarei and Far North districts to the north of Whangarei.

The International Rally of Whangarei is run by Rally of New Zealand.

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