Wilde is hoping the home ground advantage will keep him on top of the tables in the Four-Wheel-Drive Championship at the end of the round and will also be aiming for victory in the opening round of the West Australian Rally Championship, which runs alongside the Bosch ARC at the event.
“We’re really looking forward to the Quit Forest Rally, our car has been set up for it from the beginning of the year and we really saw Rally Calder as a test for this event,” Wilde said.
“If we get a good result at home we’ll be aiming to do the entire ARC this year so it is going to be really important that we have a good event,” he continued.
Busselton local Leigh Hynes and his co-driver Stuart Percival as well as fellow West Australians John Macara and co-driver Richard Harries will also be looking for honours in both the Bosch ARC and WARC competitions.
Nicolas Box and co-driver Ash Ridden, who finished second in the WARC in 2011 have turned their attentions solely to the Bosch ARC this year and will be another crew to watch out in the forest.
A further 28 local crews will be contesting the WARC component of the event with Alex Stone and Hanna Drury set to be the crew to watch outside of those competitors also in the Bosch ARC.
Stone and Drury won the second heat of the WARC at Quit Forest Rally in 2011 and will be looking to go one better in 2012 and take maximum points from both days.
The battle in the WARC Two-Wheel-Drive Championship will be between Blair Pugh and Paul Helm in an Escort; Kiel Douglas and Anthony Paynter in the fiery yellow Commodore; young Dylan King and Andrew Hannigan in an Escort and last year’s Australian Two-Wheel-Drive Champions Razvan Vlad and Daymon Nicoli who this year are returning to the WARC, in a Ford Fiesta.
In the WA Clubman event Toyota’s are looking to take a clean sweep of the podium with four of the eight crews competing in cars built by the manufacturer.
The Quit Forest Rally will include rounds of the Australian Two-Wheel-Drive Championship, Australian Four-Wheel-Drive Championship, West Australian Rally Championship, Australian Classic Rally Challenge, Quit Forest Rally Moto, Western Australian Clubman Cup Series and the Busselton Toyota Super Sprint.
With more than 150 cars and bikes expected to compete across the weekend (March 30 – 1 April) the Quit Forest Rally is a motorsport extravaganza you don’t want to miss.
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