A little bit sideways Rallying in New Zealand, where we like to get A Little Bit Sideways! Up to date Rally News from teams around the country together with event reports.
Tauranga’s Phil Campbell has left the third round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Lone Star Rally Canterbury, encouraged by the speed shown by the team’s new car.
Campbell headed to the event looking forward to finally making the competitive debut of The Roofing Store Ford Fiesta AP4 car after testing the vehicle two weeks earlier. Joined by Mal Peden to guide their way through the wet forestry roads, the pair made a strong start with the fifth fastest stage time, then a sixth in stage two to enter the first service in fifth place.
Unfortunately an overheating problem crept in after the second stage and despite the teams best effort, they were unable to sort it in the service park, forcing Campbell to run without anti-lag in stage three. Despite the handicap, Campbell was able to record another top ten stage time.
Things would all come undone in stage four, when the engine cried enough and the car would unfortunately would return to the service park on the back of a tow-rope, having been forced into retirement.
“Obviously the result wasn’t quite what we were after, but to bring a brand new car to this event and run in some pretty challenging conditions at a competitive pace is really encouraging for the whole team that has been involved in building the car,” said Campbell. “We’ll get it back to the workshop and hopefully get it ready to go for South Canterbury, I just can’t wait to get back behind the wheel. It’s a proper race car, it’s just so cool.”
The Campbell Rally Sport team will take the car back to their workshop and assess the engine damage before hopefully returning for the Stadium Finance South Canterbury Rally on June 23.
Press Release by BB Media
