Rally Bahau, round 3 of the Malaysian Rally Championship, was a successful event for Australian co-driver, Daniel Willson. Teamed with New Zealand driver, Mike Young, the crew competed in the Proton Satria run by the Pennzoil GSR Racing Team.
The rally was held in the usual Malaysian country – palm oil and rubber plantations - where the roads are very tricky. Leading up to the event the area received a lot of rain, making the recce very wet which was a good indication as to what conditions may be like during the rally.
The youthful duo started the event seventh car on the road in the older model Proton. On the opening stages there was a carburettor problem which caused an engine misfire that slowed the crew, losing around a minute to the leading crews. This was recified by the fantastic service crew and a set of dry gravel tyres were fitted which gave the boys fourth outright fastest time on the next stage.
Over the next group of stages they clawed back some time to be sitting eighth outright and first in class. A broken strut top slowed the team but by days end they were still leading their class against some much more fancied rivals!
After a thorough check over of the car by the service crew, the team were ready to tackle day two of competition. The stages were much rougher for this leg of the event; the crew did a great job to maintain good speed while keeping away from the big bumps and ruts that would most likely damage the car, ending their rally. Another broken strut top was the only damage from a tough morning’s rallying. The crew again did a great job in changing this in the service break to keep Mike and Daniel in the event.
With the afternoon loop of stages done the results were tallied which showed the dynamic duo to be 9th outright, 3rd Junior and 1st in class - a great result in what was another tough and trying event in Malaysia.
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