It will stand in the record books as the longest winning streak in the Australian Rally Championship, but the red-hot run of Eli Evans came to an end at the opening round of the season when he retired his rented VW Polo.
Evans though, isn’t downbeat, in fact he’s happy one of his key rivals Brendan Reeves was the one to end his reign at the top. And he’s using the end of his twelve wins on the trot as motivation as Evans looks to regroup ahead of the next Round in Western Australia.
“Brendan tried so hard last year, so I’m really happy to see it go to him. But whether it was Brendan or Scott, I just wanted one of those guys to get it because it was those two that I was racing neck and neck all last year,” said Eli.
“His (Brendan’s) pace last year was supreme, last year he made me drive right on the edge in the Honda Jazz, so honestly I’m not surprised he won.”
Eli re-wrote the record books when he claimed his clean sweep of both the 2012 and 2013 Australian Rally Championship’s with twelve wins in a row. He bypassed Possum Bourne’s record of eight straight wins which the New Zealand rally legend set across the 1997 and 1998 seasons.
“Twelve wins is not too bad!” laughed Eli. “It’s given me a chance to reflect on all those wins over and amazing two years with Honda.”
Evans almost didn’t make the start line in Canberra after delays in the teams resurrection of its Honda Civic. “We were happy just to be in Canberra, a week out I honestly would have said we were going to have to miss the opening Round of the year.”
A last minute offer by Justin Dowel to rent his Volkswagen Polo gave Eli the chance to defend his winning streak, but in the end damage on the Saturday afternoon saw an early end to his rally.
“It was disappointing to finish the weekend with just three points, that may become a factor come the end of the year. Nearly 80 points down now, and that makes it very tough for the rest of the season,” Evans explained.
“There are five Rounds to go and rallying is rallying, it’s always so unpredictable and if we can be at the finish at those next five Rounds then we’ll be in a position to hopefully give it a good shake.”
“The aim now is to pick some points up in Perth, regroup and go from there,” concluded Eli.
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