The Rally New Zealand is an annual

rally race Rally is a wide-ranging form of motorsport with various competitive motoring elements such as speed tests (often called ''rally racing),'' navigation tests, or the ability to reach waypoints or a destination at a prescribed time or average speed. ...

in New Zealand. It was first included as a round of the World Rally Championship in

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. The race is famous for its fast flowing gravel roads which carry the competitors through forests and alongside the New Zealand coastline. It was first held in Taupo in 1969, and was subsequently staged in Canterbury, before moving back to the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

in 1971. Auckland has hosted the majority of Rally New Zealand events. From

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

the event was based in Hamilton, with the service park, parc ferme and the

super special stage A special stage (SS) is a section of closed road at a stage rallying event used for timed speed tests. Racers attempt to complete the stage in the shortest time. A race on a special stage is coordinated such that each competing racer begins after ...

all being located at the Mystery Creek Events Centre. In 2010 it returned to Auckland. The WRC teams voted Propecia Rally New Zealand "Rally of the Year" in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. The

2007 Rally New Zealand The 2007 Rally New Zealand (''37th Propecia Rally New Zealand''), 11th round of 2007 World Rally Championship, was run on 31 August to 2 September. After a tight battle for three days, Marcus Grönholm beat Sébastien Loeb for the win by 0.3 s ...

ended with the closest-ever finish in the history of the World Rally Championship. After over 350 competitive kilometres, only 0.3 seconds separated the winner Marcus Grönholm and second-placed Sébastien Loeb. No event was held between 2013 and 2016. As of 2020, the event is a part of the World Rally Championship, but was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.

Past winners

*'', denotes years when Rally New Zealand was not part of the World Rally Championship''

Multiple Winners

External links

Official site

{{Rally New Zealand Recurring sporting events established in 1969 New Zealand New Zealand