Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Gelsomino have had a disappointing opening day of Coates Hire Rally Australia. After taking the Power Stage win yesterday and winning the rally’s first official competitive stage, Reeves’ rallyschool.com.au Mazda2 suffered a broken camshaft and the pair were forced to retire from Leg 1 of the event.
Reeves started the day in great form, winning the opening stage of the rally by six seconds. His day was short-lived, though, when the camshaft gave way mid-way through the second stage.
The non-finish today is a huge blow to Reeves and Gelsomino’s ECB Australian Rally Championship (ARC) title hopes. Heading into Rally Australia they trailed Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt (Renault Clio) by five points but their Power Stage win on Thursday levelled the point score. Pedder will bag another 20 points for today’s win but with two full days of rallying, and 81 points still on offer, Reeves is confident he can claw back some ground tomorrow.
“It is so disappointing not to finish today,” Reeves said. “We were feeling super confident after winning the Power Stage yesterday and then starting today so well.
“The rallyschool.com.au boys have worked hard all day to repair the Mazda2, and we are looking forward to getting back out on the stages tomorrow.
“Rally Australia is a really long event and there’s a lot of rallying left, so we’re confident we can score some solid points and keep the battle with Scott (Pedder) tight until the final round.”
Coates Hire Rally Australia is round five of the ECB Australian Rally Championship and is being held in the Coffs Harbour region of New South Wales. Saturday’s Leg 2 comprises around 120 kilometres of competitive stages.
*20 points are allocated for each Leg of the event, plus 40 points for the overall rally win and one point for the most stage wins.
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