Young to drive Mazda at Otago

New Zealander Mike Young has added Otago Rally to his international schedule in 2020 driving a Mazda AP4 supported by Dunlop Tyres and new sponsor GO! Logistics.

Andrew Hawkeswood’s Force Motorsport will run the car with Malcolm Read reading the notes and the pair entered in both the FIA Asia-Pacific and New Zealand Rally Championships.

“After working on the event with the NZRC television team last year I’m really looking forward to actually competing at Otago Rally this time, those South Island roads are just awesome!”, said Young from his home in Perth.

“It’s a great opportunity to work with Andrew, Force Motorsport and to have Jack (Hawkeswood) as our team-mate. We all got to know each other at APRC China Rally last year and will be good to catch up with them again.”

Andrew Hawkswood, Otago Rally 2019
Following Otago Young and Read will compete at the International Rally of Whangarei with the Japanese based Cusco Racing team in a Toyota C-HR and following that there’ll be at least one more round in the 2020 New Zealand Rally championship.

“Definitely we want to do WRC Rally of NZ, its too good an opportunity to miss and that’s our main focus – we’ll make a decision on the other NZRC rounds after Whangarei”, said Young.

Mike Young, Rally Hokkaido 2019 testing
For New Zealand teams and driver’s planning to be at the FIA Asia-Pacific final at Coffs Harbour, Australia Young is working with new sponsor GO! Logistics to put a shipping package together.

“GO! are New Zealand based but have offices all over Australia including Brisbane and to get to Coffs from there is very easy, they’re just working on final costs. The more containers they ship the cheaper it will be”, said Young. “Hopefully we can encourage some more Kiwis to qualify for APRC and go to the event, Coffs Harbour has some great roads and beaches.”

Source: Press release
Photos: Geoff Ridder (Rally Otago 2019), Brian Young (Rally Hokkaido 2019), Bruce McKinnon (Capital Rally Canberra 2018)

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