What drives you?
Bryn Jones stares down at the wooden surface of the coffee table and exhales slowly. He looks to his left, his blue eyes full of concentration.
Cambridge driver Bryn Jones, right, and his co-driver Sean Lockyear with the car’s new car wrap at the Otago Rally where they won their class. Photo: Geoff Ridder
“I’d really, really have to think about that.”
After about 15 seconds of quiet contemplation, he has the answer: “Just trying to be the best I can.”
Jones, born and bred in Cambridge, is a passionate petrol-head gunning for the top echelons of world rally driving.
“What we do in rallying, that’s what I want to do,” he said.
“I want to travel the world driving rally cars. I wish I could do it every day.”
He’s on the right track.
In 2022, Jones was one of five young New Zealand drivers to win entry to the Winmax Junior Driver Programme – a collaboration between Winmax Brake Pads and Paddon Racing Group.
Since then, he’s been receiving coaching and mentoring by one of Aotearoa’s most successful drivers, seven-time New Zealand Rally Championship winner Hayden Paddon.
“Hayden has shared a wealth of knowledge with me and been a huge support,” the 23-year-old former Cambridge High School student said.
Bryn Jones
During his time with Paddon, Jones has picked up two major titles – 2023 Motorsport New Zealand Junior Driver Champion and 2024 New Zealand Rally Championship 2WD Junior Champion.
Last year, he won a coveted spot in the Dunedin-based Elite Motorsport Academy of New Zealand, where he strapped in for an intensive week-long camp that tested his physical and mental limits.
“They put us in a 40-degree heat chamber with 50 per cent humidity in a racing simulator and they made us run up Baldwin Street,” he said.
“But it was such a valuable experience – and when I got accepted I was like, finally, someone is starting to notice my capabilities. It was that next step in my racing career that I needed. A lot of top motorsport drivers like Hayden Paddon have gone through the academy and gone on to race at top levels on the world stage.”
Jones loves everything about his sport – the sense of speed, pushing his car to its limits, the adrenaline rush of ripping down a gravel road at 170km per hour.
“When you put the helmet on, everything just seems to fade away,” he said. “You’ve got one job and you’re just there to do it. There’s nothing else I can really compare it to.”
Cambridge driver Bryn Jones (right) and his co-driver Sean Lockyear celebrate their win at the Whangarei stage of the New Zealand Rally championship last year. Photo – Geoff Ridder
Passionate, driven and emotional are the three words he uses to sum himself up.
How would his friends describe him?
“A pain in the arse probably,” he laughs. “That’s a question you’d have to ask them.”
The local tyre technician, who enjoys gaming and hanging out with mates in his spare time, caught the racing bug from his father Anthony aged seven.
He patiently waited for his 12th birthday, got his motorsport licence and started off in a Ford Escort Mk1, competing in clubsport events and moving on to stage rallies in 2018.
This month, Jones launched full throttle into the 2025 New Zealand Rally Championship, which began on April 3 in Otago, in his Ford Fiesta Rally4, built by MSport Poland.
He and co-driver Sean Lockyear, who are entering their third season together, finished first in their FIA (Federation Internationale de l’Automobile) two-wheel drive class and 13th overall in the high-profile two-day event.
Jones and Lockyear will also compete in South Canterbury, Canterbury, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and Whangarei in this year’s New Zealand Rally Championship.
They were overall runners-up in 2023 and finished third last year after a frustrating start to the season hampered by mechanical issues.
For Jones, competing in this year’s championship is one step further toward his goal of taking on the world.
“There’s still a lot of work to do to get to that point,” he said.
“But there’s definitely a possibility I could do it.”
Bryn Jones takes a corner during the Otago Rally. Photo: Geoff Ridder
