BB & Budgie’s Thursday Night Recce
Sep 17, 2026 · 20 min · 7 segments
Tonight on Thursday Night Recce, BB & Budgie start with some breaking news around an interesting entry for International Rally of Whangarei, before breaking out the maps and putting together a bit of…
Dale BudgeHostYeah, I mean, those close to the industry probably wouldn't be surprised to hear Ben Hunt On the entry list, there was a lot of rumors going around that he was going to be in the GR Yaris Rally Cup car.
A bit of a revenge tour after Southland didn't quite go to plan.
But he's in a forced motorsport car, Dale Budge.
But it is the 2017 championship winning Mazda 2 AP4 car.
Very much thrown in there.
As a disturber in the championship, we've talked a lot about the Stokeses with their commitment and the way things have played out, having two horses in the race.
And this is, I think, very much a case of Force Motorsport saying, well, what's good for one is good for all.
And we will also have... a second horse in the race.
So it's certainly, you know, what it shows is you've got two teams that are massively, massively committed to taking out this championship.
And at the moment, they're separated by one whole point.
Yeah, let's just look through the permutations of how that could play out, because there's a few things to unpack here.
I mean, Ben Hunt, in a car that is now 10 years plus in age, Ben hasn't done the whole championship all year.
OK, he's been driving a little bit here and there, but where do we see him sort of fitting into this battle between the other top three that have been there all year? Do we automatically expect that just talent alone, he's going to be right in the mix?
Well, first of all, we'll start off by saying Ben Hunt on a retirement year is a bit like Rocky Hudson retiring or John Farnham retiring.
More comebacks in one year.
We've seen him at...
Well, this would probably be his fifth rally this year, so he might as well have done a championship campaign.
But, oh, look, Ben's always going to be a contender, and he's smart, you know.
Yes, that car is potent, and particularly on the first day, the roads are quite fast.
So it could be...
You know, we saw Jack Stokes in the AP4 car at Whangarei last year.
Very, very fast.
So could be really...
Yeah, yes, he has the potential to get in there.
Yeah, I mean, those close to the industry probably wouldn't be surprised to hear Ben Hunt On the entry list, there was a lot of rumors going around that he was going to be in the GR Yaris Rally Cup car.
A bit of a revenge tour after Southland didn't quite go to plan.
But he's in a forced motorsport car, Dale Budge.
But it is the 2017 championship winning Mazda 2 AP4 car.
Very much thrown in there.
As a disturber in the championship, we've talked a lot about the Stokeses with their commitment and the way things have played out, having two horses in the race.
And this is, I think, very much a case of Force Motorsport saying, well, what's good for one is good for all.
And we will also have... a second horse in the race.
So it's certainly, you know, what it shows is you've got two teams that are massively, massively committed to taking out this championship.
And at the moment, they're separated by one whole point.
Yeah, let's just look through the permutations of how that could play out, because there's a few things to unpack here.
I mean, Ben Hunt, in a car that is now 10 years plus in age, Ben hasn't done the whole championship all year.
OK, he's been driving a little bit here and there, but where do we see him sort of fitting into this battle between the other top three that have been there all year? Do we automatically expect that just talent alone, he's going to be right in the mix?
Well, first of all, we'll start off by saying Ben Hunt on a retirement year is a bit like Rocky Hudson retiring or John Farnham retiring.
More comebacks in one year.
We've seen him at...
Well, this would probably be his fifth rally this year, so he might as well have done a championship campaign.
But, oh, look, Ben's always going to be a contender, and he's smart, you know.
Yes, that car is potent, and particularly on the first day, the roads are quite fast.
So it could be...
You know, we saw Jack Stokes in the AP4 car at Whangarei last year.
Very, very fast.
So could be really...
Yeah, yes, he has the potential to get in there.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
