Tomorrow's Catlins Coast Rally will be full of interest and intrigue.

The rally has attracted a massive 89 entries and it is a quality line up, with top drivers, interesting characters and some special cars among that number.

The winner will be a worthy victor as the top seeds are drivers of the calibre of two-time winner and defending champion Dean Bond of Balcutha in a Mitsubishi EVO 6.5, Kaikoura driver Regan Ross in a Mitsubishi EVO 9, 2005 winner and former New Zealand Rally Xtreme and Mainland Rally Series Champion, Derek Ayson, of Gore, in a Mitsubishi EVO 8 and fellow Gore driver and fourth seed Andrew Graves, the 2010 winner in his older Mitsubishi EVO 3.

Behind them are drivers who will be snapping at their heels such as Rhys Gardner, Brisbane-based Kiwi Lyndon Galbraith, who was last year's national hillclimb champion, along with last year's second placegetter Paul Cross, of Gore, and Scott Simpson, of Oamaru.

The class battles will also be intense, with Taylor Jansen (Christchurch) and Peter Fridd (Oamaru) looking set to fight out the Class A for 2-wheel-drive cars from 0-1300cc in their Datsun 1200 Coupe and Toyota Starlet, respectively.

Meanwhile Class B (2-wheel-drive cars from 1301-1600cc) will be a tussle between current Mainland Rally Series class champion Mike Townshend, who is based in Australia, Phil Terry (Invercargill), Carter Strang (Wallacetown) and Craig Cormack (Gore) in Toyotas, plus Hadley MacKay (Invercargill) in a Citreon Saxo VTS and Kevin Laird (Gore) in yet another Toyota.

Class C for the larger capacity 2-wheel-drive cars should see a massive battle between Marcus Van Klink, Deane Buist and Duncan McCrostie.

Class D (4-wheel-drive) honours are wide open as the first three placegetters in the rally are not eligible. That means if the top seeds come through drivers such as Gardner, Galbraith, Cross and Simpson could snare the class.

Graves will be the hot favourite in Class E for Pre-1996 4-wheel-drive cars but if he finishes in the top outright placings Neville Krammer of Wallacetown (Subaru Legacy), Gary Reynolds of Greymouth in an EVO 2 and Paul Dickson of Timaru (EVO 3) move into contention.

Barry Mills (Balclutha), an amazing sixth overall last year in his elderly Hillman Avenger, is odds-on favourite in the 0-1700cc Classic section while Bert Murray of Waimate in his Mazda RX7 and Graham Ferguson of Greymouth in a Ford Escort RS1800 are the top competitors in 1701cc & over Classic class.

FAST FACTS

• Interesting cars and drivers abound throughout the field with iconic vehicles such as the XYGT Falcon 351 to be driven by Australian Stew Reid and the Fiat 131R of Upper Hutt driver Tony Aimers.
• Top WRC and Asia-Pacific Rally Championship co-driver Glenn MacNeall will drive a Toyota Trueno with his partner, top New Zealand driver Emma Gilmour co-driving. This is the second time the couple have reversed roles at Catlins.
• Jeff Judd, currently co-driving for Indonesian driver Subhan Aksa in the Production World Rally Championship, will drive a MK1 Escort in the rally.
• Gore driver Craig Hewlett will receive a free entry into the event after winning the National Junior Clubsport Championship earlier this year. Each year rally organisers (the Eastern Southland Car Club) offer free entry to the junior champion and this year it was one of their own. Hewlett took maximum points in all three events at the Clubsport Championship: the Motorkhana, Autocross and Bent Sprint.
• The first woman to win the National Group N Rally Championship, Deborah Kibble, now living in Waimate, is in the field.
• The rally winner will take home the Darryl Robinson Memorial Trophy while the top South Otago crew win the Kerry O'Donohue Memorial Trophy. The top Otago Sports Car Club crew win the Glen Shirlaw Memorial Trophy.
• Monit Rally Computers once again offers prizes for novice drivers and co-drivers this year. There is also a prize  for the person who makes an outstanding contribution to the event.
• Team Ralliart are offering prizes to any Mitsubishi competitors who finish in the top three overall: a $1000 parts credit with Team Ralliart for a Mitsubishi crew that wins, and $300 and $200 parts credits to Mitsubishi crews that finish second and third, respectively.
•  The event is a round of both the Laird Motorsport Southern Rally Series and the Mainland Rally Series.
• This year's Catlins Coast Rally again features eight Special Stages totalling 157 kilometres of competitive mileage along with a further 90km of Touring Stages. As is traditional the first car will leave from Owaka Motors in Owaka at 9am tomorrow. 
• The final stage will again be the very popular Riverside Reserve stage in Balclutha, a stage that always attracts an excellent crowd.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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