Emma Gilmour has been a regular starter in the New Zealand Rally Championship for more than two decades, but she will take a different approach this season.<\/p>\n
Instead of contesting the full championship, Gilmour will run a mixed programme of events in both her Citroen C3 Rally2 car and her Suzuki Swift, with a renewed focus on enjoyment, balance and strong results.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Over the past few years, it\u2019s been pretty full-on,\u2019\u2019 Gilmour said.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019ve been recovering from a head injury, managing the business through a tough economic climate and juggling a lot behind the scenes.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I got to the start of this year and realised I needed to change how I approach the season.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
While she has previously skipped rounds of the championship, this marks the first time she has intentionally chosen not to enter the NZRC from the outset.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019m still as motivated as ever to perform, but I want to enjoy it more as well. This season is about getting that balance right.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Gilmour will line up at her home event, the Otago Rally (April 11\u201312), which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year and has attracted a huge entry of nearly 150 competitors.<\/p>\n
She will compete in the Allcomers field in her Citroen C3 Rally2, alongside Australian co-driver Ben Searcy.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I absolutely love Otago. It\u2019s my favourite event \u2014 the roads, the fans, the atmosphere. It\u2019s the best rally in the southern hemisphere, and I\u2019m incredibly lucky it\u2019s my home event.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018Running in Allcomers takes the pressure off chasing a championship. I can focus on driving well, enjoying the event and still pushing for a strong result.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
A recent test day with Paddon Rallysport helped Gilmour reset ahead of the season, before she returned to competition at the Popotunoa Rallysprint.<\/p>\n
She claimed victory in a competitive field, setting the fastest time on the final run to take the win.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It was awesome to get that result. It\u2019s always a tough field, so to come away with the win was a great way to start the year.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
Following Otago, Gilmour will switch to her Suzuki Swift to contest the remaining rounds of the Deep South Rallysprint Series across Otago and Southland.<\/p>\n
The Ashley Forest Rallysprint is another key event on her calendar.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s such a fun stage, and it\u2019s also a great opportunity to give back to the sponsors who support what I do.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
With a reduced competition schedule, Gilmour is also placing greater focus on giving back and expanding her work off the rally stages.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018I\u2019ll have MITO apprentices crewing with the team, I\u2019m doing more school visits and continuing to grow my keynote speaking. That side of things is really important to me.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n
She is also working on a book,\u00a0Pacenotes for Life, which draws on her experiences in rallying and business.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018It\u2019s not a memoir \u2014 it\u2019s about sharing lessons that might help others navigate their own path.<\/p>\n
\u2018\u2018In rallying, pacenotes tell you what\u2019s coming next. In life, we don\u2019t get that \u2014 we\u2019re all figuring it out as we go. If I can share what\u2019s worked for me and help someone else along the way, that\u2019s something I\u2019d love to do.\u2019\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Emma Gilmour has been a regular starter in the New Zealand Rally Championship for more than two decades,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":363695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-363694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/363694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/363695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=363694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=363694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}