Eli Evans’ brand new Mini Cooper AP4 is up and running, after problems saw the car fail to make it to the start of the Eureka Rally last weekend.
Eli Evans took a Heaet 2 victory in a rented Peugeot 208 Maxi. (Photo: John Doutch)The three-time Australian Rally Champion was forced to hire the ex-Mark Pedder Peugeot 208 Maxi for the event, and took a win and a fifth place on the two days of the event.
An incredible effort by the Evans Motorsport team had the car all but ready for its debut event, but computer problems were to be their achilles heel.
The issue was the tight time frame to get all the new software to communicate with all the new sensors,” Evans told RallySport Magazine.
“It’s still new technology because we are running direct injection. We had no time for errors to occur, but unfortunately they did.”
With the team back in their Victorian workshop, the Mini is now firing on all cylinders, and according to Evans, will soon be ready for dyno tuning.
“While it was disappointing not to debut the Mini in Ballarat, we were able to come up with a Heat win, and there are only three points between the top three in the championship,” Evans added.
The next event on the Australian Rally Championship calendar is the Forest Rally in Western Australia from April 21 to 23.
- Peter Whitten
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