'Awesome to finally win' Otago Rally trophy - Hunt

After more than a decade of trying, Auckland’s Ben Hunt can finally add the elusive Otago Rally trophy to his cabinet.

The Skoda Fabia Rally 2 driver has had his eye on this particular piece of silverware since 2013 and he and long-time co-driver Tony Rawstorn have come close many times. Their victory over Waikuku’s Robbie Stokes and his new navigator Shane Reynolds went down as one of the closest finishes in Otago Rally history, with only 2.7 seconds separating them at the end of 15 stages and 280 kilometres of high-speed gravel action over the weekend.

Hunt said it was "awesome to finally win Otago."

"I’ve been second so many times. I’ve been close — when we’ve had fights like that over the years — to winning and just been second, so it’s good to be on the other end of the stick. I can retire now that I’ve won Otago finally," he said, with a laugh.

He likened the feeling to that of winning the entire championship.

"I’ve always been unlucky here and we’ve been leading it so many times and missed. With how close it was with Robbie and Jack [Stokes] over the weekend it was even more special because we had to actually work for it."

Hunt had a narrow 10.5sec lead over Robbie Stokes after Saturday’s eight stages, and after finishing second last year, Stokes was on a charge to change that yesterday.

"I got on the pace really quick to get in a good rhythm and we did that and took the rally lead. I knew these final stages Ben has done so many times and he’s had so much experience that we’d need a bit of a gap and the gap simply wasn’t enough," Stokes said.

He was, however, thrilled with clocking his fastest-ever time through the iconic final Kuri Bush stage in what was his first event in his newly arrived Skoda Fabia Rally 2.

Yesterday started out looking like it might be a fairytale finish for the Stokes family, with the two brothers locked in an epic sibling stoush and in a 1-2 position for stages 10 and 11. A puncture and retirement for Jack and co-driver Hayden Graves in stage 12 put an end to that dream result, but with four stage wins in his debut event driving the Ford Fiesta AP4 previously belonging to his brother, Jack looks to be a top contender for a rally win over the New Zealand Rally Championship’s remaining five rounds.

Defending Otago victor, Millers Flat-based Jack Hawkeswood still got to spray champagne at the Brighton finish ceremony yesterday, although it was the third-placed team’s bottle for him and co-driver Jason Farmer. Hawkeswood’s debut NZRC win last year saw him contest the rally as the first-seeded national championship car, which made for "a tough couple of days," he said.

"I had to sweep the road and that’s been a learning experience for me."

Returning to rallying after a season off, Christchurch’s Josh Marston was on the pace in his Holden Barina AP4. Teaming up with Gore co-driver Andrew Graves, he finished fourth – a mere 2.8 seconds off the podium.

Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour had her hopes of a hometown rally victory dashed early on when a puncture on the first stage dropped her down the pecking order by a minute. A brake issue with her Citroen C3 on the second day also slowed her and Australian co-driver Ben Searcy down. Consistency is her aim for this season and with regular top-five stage times throughout the day, including four third-fastest times, Gilmour demonstrated she is a front-runner for overall glory.

Mossburn driver James Worker had a strong drive in his Mitsubishi Evo 6 to wrap up sixth place and was over three minutes ahead of seventh-placed Queenstown driver Caleb MacDonald in the same model Mitsubishi.

The NZRC’s second round, the South Canterbury Rally on May 10, will be based in Timaru.