TREADING CAREFULLY THROUGH THE TRAFFIC LIGHTS
4WD MOTORSPORT WORKS OUT WHAT CAN BE ACHIEVED
New Zealand’s Covid response continues to wreak havoc on sport of all kinds, including off-road racing, rallying and 4WD trials. It makes for depressing reading.
The list of recent motorsport events cancelled or affected is long:
The 2021 Ashley Forest Rallysprint – which almost always attracts at least one off-road racing team to run popular ‘demonstration’ runs – was cancelled. It was to have run in September
The 2021 off-road racing national championship final at Labour Weekend was cancelled
Then this year the two-round televised stadium short course event set down for February-March at Manukau was cancelled.
The r-boot of the New Zealand Off-road Grand Prix at Manukau was cancelled
The opening round of the 2022 New Zealand off-road racing championship fell over and was replaced by a limited-size fun day at TECT Park near Tauranga.
Recovery has begun, though tentatively.
The 2021-2022 NZ4WDA national trials series has been run and won, with some round going ahead without spectators to comply with traffic light rules.
Hayden Paddon’s 2022 hillclimb event went ahead, also without spectators and minus the off-road racing and 4WD teams that attended the inaugural event
The Taupo 1000 will now be put back to late 2023. The New Zealand Rally Championship is also likely to go ahead, including the Rally of New Zealand with full World Rally Championship status
