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, of Kaiapoi, had a tough weekend at the fourth round of the New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) after the conditions halted his quick pace at Rally Canterbury held over the weekend.
Van Klink, and co-driver Dave Neill, closed to within seven seconds of experienced Canterbury driver, Deane Buist, before suffering a minor problem with their Chesters Plumbing Mazda RX7 which proved to be devastating in the wet conditions.
“Our window wiper motor overheated and stopped our wipers working near the end of stage five,” said van Klink, “we then had to do the 26 kilometers of stage six with no wipers which caused us to lose heaps of time as I couldn’t see anything with the rain which was quite heavy at the time.”
“We tried to repair it at the next service but fortunately for us, the weather cleared enough for us to carry on without losing too much more time.
“Obviously we’re gutted that something so small affected our finishing position so much but our times were still up there with the leaders so we can at least take that away.”
The Chesters Plumbing RX7 also proved it had the pace against van Klink’s toughest rivals after taking multiple stage wins in the historic class before the wiper motor malfunctioned.
“Apart from the wiper motor, the Chesters Plumbing RX7 ran perfectly all weekend. We also damaged the exhaust in a rough section during the rally but that wasn’t the cars fault,” laughed van Klink.
Van Klink and his Chesters Plumbing team still sit third in the NZRC historic class championship, with two more rounds of the NZRC left to contest, with both events based in the north island.
“It’s going to be a good challenge over the next two rallies to get back where we want to be in the championship standings, especially with Neil Allport entering into the historic class too,” explained van Klink, “but we’re up for the challenge and both Dave [Neill] and I are really looking forward to returning to the north island roads.”
The next round of the New Zealand Rally Championship is the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally, set to be held on Saturday 7 September around Pukekohe. The event marks the 10th anniversary of the Possum Bourne Memorial Rally, which celebrates the achievements of New Zealand’s iconic rally driver, Possum Bourne, arguably one of New Zealand’s most respected and well known rally drivers.
Van Klink’s NZRC campaign is supported by Chesters Plumbing and Bathrooms, AMT Mechanical, Castrol Oil, Universal Plumbing, Buteline Al Marsh Rotorsport and Palmside.
Media Release: Alana McIsaac (August, 2013)
