The devastating earthquake which hit Christchurch and Canterbury early last week will not affect the running of this year’s DriveSouth Rally of Otago.

According to the rally’s Clerk of Course, Norman Oakley, everything is still on track for the April 8 to 10 event.

“We’ve had a few enquiries about how the rally has been affected by the earthquake,” Oakley said.

“Although the quake was widely felt in Otago, the rally will be completely unaffected.

“As organisers, we know that many of our Canterbury friends may have
suffered significant damage, but hope that they are not too badly
affected.”

After a ceremonial start in Dunedin on the Friday evening, April 8, the
DriveSouth Rally of Otago begins with three night-time stages with a
competitive distance of around 50 kilometres.

The rally will continue on Saturday with six daylight stages, including
the popular tarmac super special stage around the streets of central
Dunedin.

On Sunday, a further six daylight gravel stages will see a total event competitive distance of approximately 275 kilometres.

Along with the International Classic Rally of Otago, the event is also
the first round of the New Zealand Rally Championship for 2011.