Driving his Activ RallySport Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, Dowel and his 2012 co-driver, Scott Spedding, won six of the event’s 13 special stages to take victory by nearly half a minute.
Dowel’s regular co-driver, Matt Lee, drove his Holden Commodore to 11th outright, and fourth in the highly competitive two-wheel drive category of the event.
Sitting out the 2012 Australian Rally Championship due to business commitments, Dowel is contesting the state title this year, with plans for both himself and Lee to drive Toyota Celica GT-Fours from round three onwards.
Despite his success at a national level last year, he was impressed with the speed of the drivers in the Victorian Championship.
“I had to drive really hard and nearly got my backside kicked by some of the VRC regulars,” Dowel said.
“The VRC pace is incredibly hot and I quickly learnt that it’s not easy going from fully pacenoted events to ‘blind’ rallies.
“Steve Raymond and Warren Lee put in great drives and Scott (Spedding) and I had to really push hard to come away with a victory.”
Matt Lee had his brother, Jeff, in the left hand seat, and the two combined well in the reliable Commodore.
“I’m stoked with 11th outright in the first VRC of the year,” Lee said.
“Jeff did an awesome job in the silly seat, and a big thanks to Johnny, Trav and Ben for turning the spanners and keeping us fuelled up for the event.”
The next round of the Exedy Victorian Rally Championship is the George Derrick Memorial Rally on March 31.
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