The possibility of winning the Pirelli star driver award and its prize of running in six rounds of the World Rally Championship next year is providing young Kiwi rally stars like Hayden Paddon, Mark Tapper and Kirsty Nelson with added impetus to do well in the NAC Insurance Hella International Rally of Whangarei, 6-8 June.

Paddon, Tapper and Nelson, along with five other drivers under the age of 27, have registered for the Pirelli star driver award, a world-wide search for five young rally drivers; one each from the Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions and two from Europe.

The NAC Insurance Hella International Rally of Whangarei is the first-ever qualifying event for the Pirelli-backed star driver search which sees entrants assessed via a separate points’ rating during the two day event. The top two Pirelli award drivers then receive financial assistance - €5000 each - to contest the second qualifying event, Rally Malaysia, in October this year. The winner in Malaysia, the Asia Pacific Pirelli star driver, will join the other four regional winners to contest six FIA World Rally Championship events in 2009 in a dedicated Pirelli-funded works rally team.

The competitors registered for the Pirelli star driver competition in Whangarei are:

1.      Hayden Paddon, age 21, Geraldine

2.      Mark Tapper, age 27, Auckland

3.      Sloan Cox, age 16, Rotorua

4.      Andre Meier, age 19, Cambridge

5.      Patrick Malley, age 24, Auckland

6.      Brendan Reeves, age 20, Wedderburn, Victoria, Australia

7.      Kirsty Nelson, age 18, Whangarei

8.      Ben Jagger, age 18, Whangarei

“To qualify, drivers must be under the age of 27 on 1 January this year and run a four-wheel-drive or two-wheel-drive Group N car,” explains Laurie Brenssell, chairman of the NAC Insurance Hella International Rally of Whangarei organising committee. “It’s the most fantastic opportunity for one of New Zealand’s young rally stars to break into the world rally scene.”

The Pirelli star driver competition points are allocated for each of the event’s 15 stages with the fastest Pirelli-registered driver in each stage earning three points, the second-fastest two points and the third-fastest one point.

“It doesn’t matter if the competitor doesn’t finish Rally Whangarei,” adds Brenssell. “The key thing in this competition is that they earn points for being one of the three fastest through each stage.”