Mark Butcher will be taking on Australia’s fastest drivers in the up coming Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge, starting at the Burnie Showgrounds on Friday, October 3rd.
Butcher has recently made the move from the mainland and is looking forward to competing in this round of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) after scoring points in Round 1 earlier in the year.
“We are new here to Tassie, but we have managed to get to one rally and were pleased with our results against some of the more experienced local crews. This event is the first tarmac rally for me and I think I won't be alone in saying that it will be a steep learning curve converting from slippery gravel to the twisty sealed roads around Burnie,” Butcher said.
Driving a 2001 Subaru WRX sponsored by Driver Skills Australia, Butcher will be leaning on all the skills learnt from the years spent teaching advanced and defensive driver training in Australia and overseas to get him to the finish of the two day event.
“Our aim is to finish both days safely and have a great time. Of course if we can achieve a result that would be fantastic – especially as there are only two local drivers in the ARC component of the event.”
Butcher will be joined by experienced West Australian co-driver, Lisa White, who is flying in for the event.
The team are busy getting the car prepared and are anxiously awaiting parts for a gearbox that failed on the last stage of the recent gravel rally.
“With some of Australia’s fastest cars and fastest drivers gathered to compete on the awesome Tasmanian roads, you would have to be mad to not come and check out the action,” said Butcher.