The team were 18 points behind Will Orders when the young Victorian driver experienced mechanical problems during the second heat of the event, enabling Jansen to take the win for not only the weekend, but also the year.
“Will lost too much time to catch us on the final stages,” Jansen said. “But we had to wait at the finish to see how many other BP Challenge cars were placed in between Will and I, but luckily for us with the cancellation of two stages, Will couldn’t make up the time he needed on the remainder of the field and we clinched the championship by just 6 points.
“We’re rapt to have won the BP Ultimate Challenge, especially seeing that this was meant to be a learning year for us in a 4 wheel-drive,” Jansen said. “Our old Evo 3 was no match for Orders’ high powered and technically advanced Subaru, but luckily our Mitsubishi just proved to be more reliable on the day. Not too bad for a 10 year old vehicle that was nothing more than an old recce car just over a year ago.”
The team have also managed to be placed 8th outright in the drivers championship and 5th in the Privateers’ Cup.
Jansen added: “I hope that in wining the BP Ultimate Challenge that it encourages other teams to consider contesting next year’s ARC, and not to be put off by running against the bigger budget teams. Our budget was so exhausted by the travelling expenses associated with getting to Melbourne from Hobart that we ran on only 2 new tyres all weekend, with the remainder being second-hand. It just goes to prove that consistency is equally as important as speed when chasing a title.”
Eurotech Rally Sport would like to extend thanks to BP for sponsoring the 2006 ARC, as well as personal sponsors Traction Tyre & Suspension Centre, Castrol, Staging Connections, Pedders, JBM Accounting, Revolution Racegear (Hobart) & Statewide Skylights.
A big thank you also goes to Darren Windus for carting the team’s spare parts around the country and to Brian Shand from Ralliart for his constant assistance throughout the year – “without this support we would not have been able to compete this year, let alone take out the BP Ultimate Challenge”,
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