The innovative method of drawing a winner has drawn praise from many sectors, with Rally Chairman Gary Smith offering Stokes his congratulations and saying “we wanted the draw to be a public as possible, so that those competitors who registered, along with their supporters, could be part of the draw and watch their number come out of the Lotto barrel live on NZ television.”
Smith added: “Brian has been one of the events greatest fans, supporting the event from its earliest beginnings back in 2005, and is a deserved winner.”
Within minutes of receiving the news, Stokes was thinking forward to the November 2010 event, and told organisers “I’m rapt, actually I cant believe it, and now that I’ve won I want to maybe try and put together a deal to bring out a driver from the UK, and give my support back to this absolutely magic event.”
Stokes, NZ National Champion in 1981 and 1985, then went on to win the inaugural Silver Fern Rally in October 2006 at the wheel of a Ford Escort Cosworth. For the 2008 Silver Fern he was again back with a purpose built classic looking MKII Ford Escort. He says that will again be the car he will use in 2010, but with a different engine.
The Free Entry Registration deal has so far seen the event compile 41 entries from as far away as Austria and the UK, who along with a good turn-out from New Zealand and Australia, were all hoping for a boost to their event budget costs, by receiving the free entry.
Organisers expect the next rush of competitors will be December 31st, when the deadline for a discounted entry for the Early Bird Entry option closes.
Starting in Christchurch, on November 14th 2010, the seven day event finishes in Queenstown, and will incorporate The NZ Silver Fern Historic Trophy and The NZ Silver Fern Challenge, effectively two major rallies within the one event. In addition a short Baby Fern event will run over the first three competition days.
Visit the Silver Fern Rally website.
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