The current leaders of the 2WD class in the Bosch Australian Rally Championship, Vlad and Nicoli will compete against a strong international field in their Group N Ford Fiesta ST.
“It is a great opportunity for us” said driver Razvan Vlad. “We had very good results in our home rallies in Western Australia, so we will take it a step further and see what we can do against the best drivers in the Asia-Pacific region. I am sure that we will have a close fight with the three 2WD Protons in the APRC, but for us the Australian Rally Championship is the ultimate goal this year so we will keep a close eye on that. We have a reliable car and a great team which I hope will help us overcome the disadvantage of being on our first rally on Queensland roads.
"We are also very lucky to have a team of local Queensland rally competitors helping us on this rally, which made all of us feel welcome even before we got on the plane.”
“This will be our first international rally” said 16 years old navigator Daymon Nicoli, who is the youngest competitor in the Caloundra based event. “There is a very large number of competitors, which means a very tight schedule for everybody. I will have to write all the notes from scratch, so I have been working hard for the last few months preparing for it. We are the only Australian crew in the 2WD APRC competition – this makes Queensland our “home rally” even though we never competed here before and we will do our best to get a good result.”
To be eligible for their class in the Australian Rally Championship the team is restricted to 10 Kumho control tyres for the whole event. “Managing tyre wear will be a big challenge”, said team manager Bob Nicoli.
“The other 2WD cars in the APRC do not have this restriction, so Razvan and Daymon will have to be careful and find a good rhythm from the start while still looking after the tyres.”
The MAXYrally.com team is supported by ANQ Solutions, XS Energy Drink and Douglas Automotive. You can follow Razvan and Daymon on their ARC adventure by going to www.MAXYrally.com.
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