Brendan Reeves, of Australia, and Rotorua's Sloan Cox are both young stars on the rise and sitting beside them calling their pace notes for the 301km event are their older sisters.
Having finished third overall in 2009 and 2010 at Whangarei, Reeves (22) is leasing Hayden Paddon's left-hand drive Mitsubishi Evo IX to gain extra seat time between rounds of the inaugural World Rally Championship Academy, a follow-on from the Pirelli Star Driver scheme that Paddon completed last year.
His sister, Rhianon Smyth (30), has been co-driving for him for the past four years and the duo are best friends, according to Reeves. They are travelling the world rallying and are enjoying spending family time pursuing their career goals, as their eight-year age gap meant Rhianon had left for university as Brendan was entering his teens.
"We love being in the car together and we both think the same and want to achieve high," he added.
Driving a Ford Fiesta R2, he is third in the academy championship and will head back to Europe for Rally Finland on July 29.
Cox spent his 2009 rally season without sister Tarryn as his co-driver, so they could learn from working with other people, and it paid dividends.
He was crowned the New Zealand Junior Rally Champion last year when they teamed up again.
"She can read me like no-one can. I do trust her a lot. You have to trust your co-driver fully and that makes us different to most brother and sister relationships," Sloan said.
The Coxes have been awarded a wildcard entry to the Whangarei event which is the fourth round of both the FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) and the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC). They are coming off a career-best third place at the previous round at Rally Wairarapa, and Tarryn was the top graduate of last week's Elite Motorsport Academy in Dunedin, a first not only for a female but also for a co-driver.
"My brain is in overload but after Rally Whangarei the books will be back out and the learning will continue. I am really excited at where my future is going," she said.
Matt Summerfield (Rangiora) has recently enlisted his sister, Nicole, to read the rally notes in the passenger seat of his Skoda Fabia RS Mark 1 and they will be competing in the NZRCs 2WD section.
Named the 2009 Open 2WD New Zealand Rally Champion and national Kiwi 2 champion the following year, Matt is already on a successful path.
The three sets of siblings are up against 74 other teams, including Paddon and co-driver John Kennard, who are looking to make it their fourth victory at Whangarei.
"This will be the most competitive year here, with a lot of APRC teams plus our Kiwi competitors to consider," Paddon (24), who won in 2007, 2009 and 2010, said.
The event will be a two-pronged battle for the 24 New Zealand teams as they chase championship points while competing against the largest international field for Whangarei for outright honours.
In-form overseas drivers include Proton team-mates former world rally championship drivers Chris Atkinson, of Australia, and Scot Alister McRae, and APRC champion Katsuhiko Taguchi, from Japan.
National series leader Richard Mason and third-placed Emma Gilmour, of Dunedin, are both driving for foreign outfits, hoping to notch team points for them and also increase their domestic points in this penultimate round.
