A concrete track will be built inside Mt Smart Stadium, which was confirmed today to host a stage of Rally New Zealand in September.
The home of the Warriors will be the rally hub as well as host a super special stage for the World Rally Championship round being held in Auckland from September 3 to 6.
"Excitingly, we're going to build a concrete track inside this stadium to host a Super Special stage on Friday and Saturday of the event," Rally NZ 2020 chief executive Michael Goldstein said at Mt Smart today.
Goldstein said the confirmation came after period of hard work lobbying to bring back a WRC event to Auckland after an eight-year absence.
"When we received the green light in September that we were going to rejoin the WRC calendar in 2020, we were given one piece of advice, that was that we needed to take the rally to the people," he said.
Mt Smart Stadium was confirmed today as the venue for a special stage of Rally NZ in September.
"The WRC were hugely enthusiastic about the proximity of this venue to central Auckland."
"It is very rare to host the service park and super special stage in the same location."
The service park and a fan village will be hosted at the Supertop, Goldstein explained.
Kiwi driver Hayden Patton said the announcement was a "dream come true."
"Auckland has a strong rally heritage going back to more than half a century and it's good to be able to once again host the WRC after an eight-year hiatus," Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said.
Stages will also be run in Raglan in Waikato and country roads north of Auckland.
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