The third round of the New Zealand Rally Championship will be the Southern Lights Rally that will use iconic Southland roads on June 22 next year.
Rally Race Group (R2G) event manager Paul Fallon said the rally was an exciting opportunity for Southland, with about 90 crews expected to compete.
"The best of the best in New Zealand will be coming down and competing on some of the amazing roads in the Southland area," he said.
"We’ve got the ones that have been in the sport for some time, the likes of Hayden Paddon and Emma Gilmour."
Mr Fallon said although the rally was in the middle of winter and it would be challenging for the crews, it was great for the community to have an event filling the off-peak season.
He said based on previous experience helping organise the iconic Manawatu Daybreaker rally, the event could bring about 4000 people into the region.
"One of the key things with rally fans is they love the adventure, even if they’re not a competitor they like attending the events.
"Essentially, in a funny sort of way, they’re having their own rally not in a competitive or speed perspective, but they chase the rally around the region as it goes and competes in different parts of the region."
Mr Fallon said Southland was chosen to host one of the six championship rallies nationwide because it added variety to the championship.
The type of roads, road surfaces and the not-too-big-but-big-enough size of the city made it a great location, he said.
A ceremonial start on Friday, June 21, in downtown Invercargill will give fans the opportunity to check out the cars and meet the drivers before they head off to the first stage and compete in the dark.
Then on Saturday, there will be a full day of racing with special stages including competitive road sections towards Gore, across the Winton area and down towards Tuatapere and Riverton.
The event will finish in Invercargill on Saturday evening.
R2G is helping to organise the rally, working with local car clubs and the Invercargill City Council.
Mr Fallon said that before 2004, rally racing was a reasonably regular event in Invercargill so there was an interest for it in the region.
New Zealand Rally Championship co-ordinator Blair Bartels said the Southern Lights Rally had received a significant date swap with the International Rally of Whangarei to split the season between the South Island and North Island.
The first three rounds of the season will take place in the South Island and after a three-month break the last three rounds will be in the North Island.
