Taking part in this weekend’s Hawkes Bay Rally will be the result of two weeks of frantic work for Clint Cunningham and the RCK Contractors Rally Team.
Two weeks to the day before Sunday’s event, the West Aucklander suffered the biggest crash of his career in the second round of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally Whangarei, heavily damaging the RCK Contractors Mitsubishi Evo 4.
But with a lot of hard work from Cunningham’s team and the team at Rally Drive New Zealand, the battered and twisted Mitsubishi has been returned to its former glory in preparation for the Hawkes Bay event, which is the second round of the Rally Xtreme series.
As well as getting back into the groove after his crash, Cunningham will have to get used to a new co-driver for the first time in his career. A prior engagement sees regular co-driver Greg Ruka unable to compete, leaving experienced Hamiltonian Dave Devonport with the vital job of calling the pace notes.
The team also welcome aboard a new sponsor in the busy time, with AA Carriers joining RCK Contractors and TGR Automotive in supporting the car.
“The fact we can even compete this weekend is a credit to my team and the team at Rally Drive NZ as well, particularly Dale Perry and Stephen Barker, who have bent over backwards to get the car ready,” says Cunningham. “It will be interesting to have Dave in the car with me, I have never rallied with anyone other than Greg and it is a short rally at only 130km, but I’m sure we will make it work.”
Rally Hawkes Bay runs on Sunday, covering nine special stages including one on tarmac and a limestone super special stage, to cover 130km of competitive distance.