At the 2013 Rally Victoria Steve Mackenzie made his first appearance as a star of the future, setting outright times in wet conditions in a car seriously under powered against it’s opposition.
Twelve months on, and with a year of experience and hard work building his own G2-spec Ford Fiesta under his belt, Mackenzie once again proved what a future star he is by not only claiming his first stage win but also his first Heat victory.
“I’m so happy with how everything went,” the Victorian youngster said at the conclusion of the season. “To go to Rally Vic, on only our second event in the new car, and to win stages is such a great feeling.”
Mackenzie sat comfortably with in the top three over the opening day in Rally Victoria, before a rush of blood on the final stage saw him over cook it into a corner and slide off the road and into retirement.
Determined to fight back on the second day the Ford driver powered out of the blocks to take his first ever ARC stage win on the morning’s opening test, and then backed it up with a further three more stage wins, to end the Heat almost half a minute ahead of newly crowned Champion Scott Pedder.
“It was hard to tell how hard Scott was pushing on the final day, I’m sure he had backed off a little to secure the Championship,” explained Steve. “Working on the basis he (Scott) had more time up his sleeve, that means we’ve got a bit more work ahead of us with our car but the signs are incredibly positive.”
Despite his relatively young age and inexperience, Mackenzie is looking realistically at his pace ahead of 2015 season. “Between now and next year I want to be on the sort of pace Scott has shown this year. I know he just needed to finish at Rally Vic, so he wasn’t driving flat out like at other rallies. It’s that flat out pace that I need to be able to match and beat.”
After just two rallies, Rally Australia and Rally Victoria, the teams Ford Fiesta ST is proving extremely competitive despite some minor concerns. “The way the car sits on the road is awesome,” Steve began. “There are a few niggly little issues with the engine and computer that we need to work out, but over all it’s working really, really well.”
With the driver market in full swing, with Eli Evans just announced to replace Tony Sullens in the Citroen squad, Mackenzie is unsure who he will be up against next year. All he knows is he wants to race - and beat - the best.
“Your guess is as good as mine as to who is going to be competing next year. If Scott, Brendan and Eli are there I’d be stoked, I want to drive against the best guys, to push myself,” he explained.
“The last thing I’d want is to get to the end of the year with no competition and have people just write it off as a nothing Championship that no one was racing in.”
“What’s my plan for next year? The plan is to come out and do the full Championship, and my aim is to win it!”
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
