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A seven-day North Island gravel marathon: about 974km of special stages from Rotorua through the East Coast, Hawke's Bay and the Central Plateau.
The NZ Silver Fern Rally is a seven-day gravel marathon run by the Ultimate Rally Group. In 2026 it starts and finishes in Rotorua, with overnight stops in Gisborne, Hastings, Palmerston North and Ohakune.
The organiser's 2026 itinerary has 46 special stages totalling about 974km. They include the Motu Road, used in the 1993 Rally New Zealand where Colin McRae took his first World Rally Championship win.
There are five ways to enter: Historic Competition (the overall winner comes from this field), Challenge Trophy for modern 2WD cars, Classic 4WD, the Silver Fern Time-Trial, and the Silver Frond, which runs the first three days. See the spectator guide below for stage times and road closures.
Stage times below come from the organiser's 2026 itinerary and event programme. Times are the itinerary's target times for the first car. The organiser updates the itinerary, so check silverfernrally.co.nz for the latest version before you head out.
Documentation, scrutineering, lunch, service and parc fermé are competitor stops. The organiser hasn't published whether the public can view them, and we haven't found official spectator points. We'll add them here if they're published.
These closure times come from council notices. Some were published as proposals, so check the council page before you travel. We haven't found notices from the other councils on the route.
Sources: NZ Silver Fern Rally documents, Ōtorohanga District Council, Gisborne District Council (includes route maps), Manawatū District Council, Rangitīkei District Council.
The council notices close these roads to ordinary traffic for the times listed, so you won't be able to drive in once a closure starts. Keep well back from the road and follow marshals' instructions.
Want the spectator points if they're published? Hit "Remind me about this event" above.
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