Victorian co-driver, Tracey Dewhurst, has successfully completed her first international rally, the Arctic Lapland Rally in Finland.
“I can’t tell you how incredible it was to experience this rally as a competitor,” Dewhurst said. “I am still trying to digest all I have experienced and absorbed this week.
“I have been intrigued by The Arctic for many years, so to rally here is a dream come true.
For my first experience on foreign soil as a competitor, it couldn't be more perfect than to be The Arctic Lapland Rally.”
The rally’s challenging course caught out many competitors, including Dewhurst and her driver, Dominque Savignoni, on the opening stage.
“Dominique and I had come into contact with the edge of the road early into stage one, slightly running wide out of a right hand corner,“ Dewhurst explained. “Unfortunately we got caught in the loose snow which dragged us into the bank, causing us to become stuck for many minutes. Eventually we managed to free the car and finish the stage, but our hope of any result for the rally was over.
“We were not going to give up though, and continued on, learning more on each kilometre we travelled, even setting sixth fastest on stage 5 for classes 8-21.
“Many times Dominique would express ‘the incredible situation’ we were in and he was loving every moment. Despite our dramas, I don't think we stopped smiling all week. It was just amazing.”
Dewhurst only met her driver just before the event, but the pair worked together incredibly well.
“We met 12 hours before recce, which is not normally ideal you would think, but we clicked instantly and set our goals mainly to finish our event.
“Our first step was overcoming the language barrier. With English being Dominique’s second language, we adapted his style of noting so my calls could be clear and he would understand them at speed. As Dominique declared many times, ‘an incredible situation’!”
Dewhurst’s opportunity to compete in the Arctic Rally of Finland was made possible by Team Manager Kari Makela and Claude Picasso (who she met when spectating at the same event in 2014), along with sponsor Makela Auto Tuning. Picasso also competed for the team in the event (co-driven by Sabrina De Castelli), as did French young guns Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais, who finished an incredible 12th outright in their first snow and 4WD rally. Makela, and co-driver Jorma Korkko, were the fourth crew for the team.
With 145 competitors and 10 stages totalling 235 kilometres, the event lived up to its reputation as one of the most challenging on Finland’s calendar. Whilst the temperatures eased in the week of the rally, averaging around -10, the course caught out over 50 competitors. Multiple Finnish Champions, Juha Salo and Marko Salminen, took the honours with their sixth Arctic Lapland Rally win.
After a successful debut as a team, Savignoni declared after the event that he would like to continue further rallies with Dewhurst in the future.
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