Eli Evans consistent performance on his debut weekend in the Citroen DS3 has rewarded him with victory at the 2015 Quit Forest Rally. Molly Taylor, fresh off her inaugural Heat win yesterday, claimed second spot on the podium ahead of a hard charging Simon Evans in third.
 

The day started badly for Simon, gaining a thirty second penalty on the very first stage of the day with an electrical problem which forced he and co-driver Ben Searcy to effect repairs roadside.
 
Eli Evans (left) and Glen Weston celebrate their win in WA.“The ignition wire to the alternator broke which flattened the battery,” Simon explained simply. “We got through the stage clear, it happened on the transport.”
 
To add insult to injury Simon then clouted a rock on the very next stage, giving him a flat which flailed off the rim within sight of the finish line but only dropping 4.9 seconds to his brother Eli who claimed the stage win.
 
With Simon struggling, and Eli clear in the lead, the minor placings during the morning’s stages were being fought out by Molly Taylor and Tony Sullens. Molly was happy to take a ‘clean and tidy’ approach while Sullens suddenly found his day going from good to bad when his gearbox began to complain.
 
“We think crown wheel and pinion has got a tooth missing or something,” Tony commented. “It won’t make the three stages left today without making a hell of a mess.”
 
The team elected to make a gearbox change in a thirty-minute service, even though the fastest they’d made a similar change previously was an hour. By the time the change was made Sullens had incurred a sizable time penalty, dropping over three minutes to sit in sixth.
 
By the midday break Eli Evans had created almost a one minute gap to Molly in second, but the Citroen driver was mindful that in a weekend that had been rife with drama he could be the next to suffer.
 
“I can breath a bit easier now, but having said that you can jag a rock, you get a flat tyre and it can be all over!”
 
For second placed Molly she was starting to find the limit of the Renault Clio. “It’s a really aggressive car, you have to give it a lot of revs and things like the gear change, with the flat cut, you have to be quite aggressive with and use some force,” she said.
 
“I’m really enjoying it, grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and wrestling the car through the stage,” Molly added.
 
In the National 4WD’s a depleted field started this morning without Mark Pedder, Dylan King or John O’Dowd. And it went from bad to worse almost immediately for Justin Dowel who picked up a puncture and then found his front diff failing reverting his Mitsubishi to rear-wheel drive only.
 
“It’s one of those days, in fact one of those weekends!” exclaimed Dowel.
 
The problems up and down the field had allowed a clean drive by Mick Patton, on his first appearance in a Mitsubishi, to move comfortably into the lead by almost two minutes to Doug Tostevin.
 
“We’ve just been playing it out, not having any moments and getting it to the end,” said Patton.
 
Into the final three stages Simon Evans pounced, grabbing an impressive 10.9 second stage win on the second pace of Healthway Loop, Molly second, Eli third. The push by Simon brought him up through the outright order to sit equal second with Molly, the pair of them exactly 57.2 seconds behind Eli in the lead.
 
On the penultimate stage Simon continued his charge, grabbing a further 5.2 seconds to leap past Molly. “My head is telling me to just take it steady and get to the finish, but my heart is telling me to just drive flat out!” smiled Simon when asked about the approach he was taking.
 
A frustrating afternoon, on top of a frustrating weekend, for Adrian Coppin who had throttle issues during the morning and then had to stop mid-stage this afternoon to pull a rock out of the front right rim on his Citroen DS3.
 
With just the one stage remaining, the 11.89km Uranium, Simon maintained his flat out pace, ensuring he would finish on the podium.
 
“This rally has really thrown everything at me!” said Simon when he reached the podium. “The Civic really came through, and the full credit has to go to the team for keeping it going. I’m sorry to those who didn’t make it to the finish this weekend, but welcome to rallying!”
 
“I need to thank dad, he’s my biggest supporter and my only sponsor. It’s great to get to the finish, give the whole team that reward, and get some points from the first event,” added Evans.
 
In second place on the podium a thrilled Molly Taylor, who was met at the finish by her mum Coral Taylor and multiple Australian Rally Champion Neal Bates. “I’ve had a great weekend!” she beamed. “My first rally in this car, my first rally with Bill (Hayes, co-driver), just fantastic. I have so many people to thank and this hopefully pays back their support.”
 
For veteran navigator Bill Hayes he was blown away by Molly’s speed and maturity. “Absolutely amazing from the very first stage of the weekend. Molly stays so calm and collected and her speed is just incredible.”
 
But the winner today and for the weekend was Eli Evans.
“It was good today, much better than yesterday, no issues at all,” said Eli at the finish in Nannup. “It’s a big relief to get this result and the car never let me down. The longer I drove it this weekend the more and more comfortable I felt, and that resulted in more speed.”
 
The result is remarkable in itself after Eli was slowed yesterday morning after running heavily off the road on only the second forestry stage, and then driving for five kilometres with a flat tyre on the very next stage.
 
“This is a tough sport and I think our fortunes yesterday compared to today prove that you can never give up. You can be up one minute and down the very next,” said Eli’s co-driver Glen Weston.
 
The win, which came on Eli’s very first weekend driving for Team Citroen Australia, was a hard fought affair after almost zero testing prior to the start of the event on Friday.
 
“It’s a very special feeling to win for a new team, it feels just like when I took my first win for Honda. The team have worked incredibly hard in the pre-season, and again this weekend, so it’s a huge relief to be in the fight and take the win. I’m so proud of the work Glen (Weston) and I did this weekend,” added Eli.
 
Mick Patton was able to maintain his solid pace in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X to claim maximum points in the National 4WD’s, ahead of Doug Tostevin’s Subaru Impreza and Justin Dowel’s repaired Mitsubishi Lancer.
 
“I had a pretty strict plan this weekend and my co-driver Bernie (Webb) definitely kept reminding to stay in check. I’m stoked, absolutely stoked. I think the last couple of year’s in the (front-wheel drive) Polo has definitely helped my driving style.”
 
Consistency over the weekend allowed local Subaru driver Brad Markovic to claim second outright in the 4WD’s with Scott McKenzie third. “It’s been one of those days today but we got through and persevered,” said Markovic.
 
The Classics was looking to be a fairly straightforward affair for Neal Bates until he suffered two rear punctures this morning and then the team noticed the rear diff housing was cracked. A quick weld job in service had Bates back up and running, and he didn’t slow for a moment, despite the rear axle crabbing on the right corner.
 
“We felt it at wasn’t quite right,” said Bates of the diff. “But sometimes as a driver it’s best not to know how bad something is and just drive on.”
 
Bates eventual margin over five minutes to the identical Toyota Celica of Clay Badenoch, with Trevor Stilling settling further back in third.
 
The East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship takes a six week break before the next Round, the National Capital Rally in Canberra, on the 15th to 17th May where the Outright 2WD, National 4WD and Classics will be joined by the Side-by-Side’s from Polaris and Can-Am.

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