Christchurch's Matt Jansen has been able to resume his participation in his fifth New Zealand Rally Championship [NZRC], thanks to the support of Canterbury-based Stadium Cars and Finance.
The current NZRC Junior Champion suffered terminal mechanical damage to his MITECH WELDERS Subaru early in the first special stage of the opening round – Rally Otago – back in April.
“It was so disappointing to stop so early,” said Matt, “and to have to miss Whangarei [Round 2 in May] as well was gutting. It sure made it a very weird feeling to have to ‘watch’ the rally via the internet…..
“We were already looking at doing a limited programme [of rallies] this year and the Otago issues didn’t help our situation at all. However this great offer from Amos Banbury at Stadium Cars and Finance has got us back on track much sooner than we could have ever hoped for.”
“The agreement is event by event and has really breathed life back into our NZRC campaign, so we intend to make the most of this second chance we have been given.”
“One good thing that did came out of our less than desirable Otago result is that we still have plenty of fuel and Dunlop tyres on hand….,” said Matt.
The MITECH WELDERS Subaru has now been repaired and showed that it is ready to go for the upcoming NZRC GoPro Daybreaker Rally at the end of the month, when Matt won his Autosport Club’s Ram Paddock Road Gravel Sprint in North Canterbury last weekend.
“The tropical storm was just starting in our area on Sunday, so it was a great chance to get some much needed ‘seat time’ and testing in some pretty trying conditions,” said Matt.
Although two of the six rounds of the championship have been held with him currently sitting at the wrong end of the NZRC Points Table, a change in this year’s rules means competitors must drop their worst points score from one of the first five rounds.
So Matt will be targeting a string of top stage times from his ideal start position of 6 in the 70 car field, at the 9 Stage, 1 Day Daybreaker, knowing that a top 5 Finish could see him move up into the Top Ten with three rounds still to go.
“It’s been quite an up and down start to the season for a lot of the [NZRC] teams, so we are not quite as badly off as the points table might currently appear, and it is still very open for everyone, especially with the new rules…..”
The GoPro Daybreaker Rally makes a welcome return to the national championship after a 12 year absence and will provide a major challenge to a number of the country’s leading drivers who will be competing on some of the most legendary roads in NZ rallying for the first time at this level.
The rally starts at Saturday June 29th at 8.30am from the Manfeild Autocourse Park in Feilding and finishes back in the Feilding Town Centre at 3.55pm after 9 high speed technical stages as far north as Apiti, where the Service Park will be based.
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