WA’s champion rally drivers will be looking to make amends for disappointing starts to the season when they compete in round two of the WA Rally Championship (WARC), the Trade Hire Donnelly Rally on Saturday May 10.
Current Outright Champion Leigh Hynes, reigning 2WD Champion Razvan Vlad and 2013 Clubman Cup winner Mark Travers all retired from the Quit Forest Rally (QFR) at the start of the month.
For Hynes, it was an early exit from the event when he rolled his Subaru WRX: “We’ve been working hard to fix the car and I’m looking forward to Donnelly. I love the fast roads.”
For Vlad, his retirement came after co-driver Daymon Nicoli complained of back pain following an off-road excursion. Nicoli was assessed in hospital and later released.
Vlad said the damage to his Ford Fiesta was not as bad as it looked: “We had to change the rear beam and the front lower control arm, but most of the damage was just bolt on parts.”
The champion is optimistic about his chances at the next event.
“Donnelly is one of my favourite rallies and I hope that I can be up to speed from the first stage,” Vlad said.
“This year it is all about going as fast as possible for us, regardless of where we are in the championship.”
Travers also has his eye on a successful finish at the Trade Hire Donnelly Rally after his Toyota Sprinter suffered a broken axle just two kilometres into the first stage of QFR.
“We will be trying hard at Donnelly as we need to get as many points as we can to stay in touch with the championship,” Travers said.
Several other top WA rally drivers have also been busy improving their cars for the rally which covers 150 kilometres of fast and narrow roads around the old Donnelly Mill, near Bridgetown. (The Clubman Cup course is 100 kilometres.)
Outright competitor Rob Webber is working on a new motor for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII while Doug Tostevin said he had rectified an electronic differential fault that slowed his Subaru WRX at QFR.
“Hopefully we can get a bit closer to Dylan King at Donnelly,” Tostevin said.
Young gun King (Subaru WRX) sits on the top of the Outright Championship points table after claiming the first victory of the WARC season.
The 2WD Championship is led by Sean Keating (Nissan Silvia) and the 2WD Challenge is headed by Nathan Pearce (Toyota Celica).
Leading the Clubman Cup Championship is Jason Lowther (Toyota Corolla) who will miss the event saying: “I leave for a holiday to the Gold Coast the next day but we get to drop our worst round of the season, so hopefully that’s okay.”
The Trade Hire Donnelly Rally starts from the Donnelly River Holiday Village at 1.15pm on Saturday May 10.
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