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.
Marcus van Klink’s aim of a third consecutive round win in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship driven by VINZ slipped on the ice at Rally Canterbury over the weekend.
Kaiapoi’s van Klink entered the round anticipating another maximum haul of points in front of a home crowd while also battling with the non-championship cars of Regan Ross and Deane Buist.
The event got underway with two night stages on a clear but cold Canterbury evening and the cold temperatures provided plenty of icy conditions to test crews. Unfortunately for van Klink, he slipped off on a particularly tricky corner and although he was not the first car to have gone off on the corner, the two-wheel drive Mazda RX-7 was unable to re-join the road and was forced to retire. To add insult to injury, a later car also went off on the same corner and hit the Chesters Mazda.
A big effort from the Klink Rallysport team overnight, van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill were able to rejoin in the morning. The pair resumed their dominance of the NZRC Historic category with stage wins on each of the day’s six special stages, including five bonus points on the power stage.
“It was a bit of a shocker for us really,” said van Klink. “I think the crash on Saturday night was the slowest one I’ve ever had. While several four-wheel drive cars had gone off before us, they were able to get out but we couldn’t and getting hit by another car was really rubbing it in. At least we got some bonus points on the power stage.”
Klink Rallysport now turn their attention to round four of the NZRC, Rally Wairarapa, on June 28. The event also entails the prestigious Malcolm Stewart Classic Rally that van Klink won in 2012 and will be aiming to repeat the result again this year.
Press Release by BB Media
