After some rain on Friday at the shakedown for Toyota Rally SA, hard chargers Will Orders and Toni Feaver admitted that the Motorsport Parts/Adminsitr8 Subaru felt the best it has all year.
‘I don’t have to fight it and it goes where I point it,” said a jubilant Orders, who set out to set top 5 times from the outset in Heat 1. Stage 1 saw the object met and the following stages as well. The rebuilt engine proved that results come from power and a suspension retune by rally ace Murray Coote, along with great Yokahama tyres contributing to the result.
Orders traded places with Steve Glenney all afternoon – Glenney, a former ARC privateer champion driving the ex-SRTA Subaru was having his first run of the year and isn’t registered for ARC points, but is a local.
"The car ran faultlessly all day and the Yokahamas we used were suited the roads," Orders said. “I had grip when I needed it and even on the tricky spectator stage we had a ball, although tyre conservation is hard when BP Challenge competitors are limited to 12 tyres. We don’t have luxury of new tyres at the start of each stage like the blokes up front. We worked all day to make sure we would have at least a couple of new ones for Heat 2.”
Orders and Feaver finished Heat 1 in 5th outright, 1st in class P5 and the BP Challenge, bagging another 20 points and taking control of the BP Ultimate Challenge overall.
In Heat 2 the weather was great, the car was in tip-top condition after service and Orders set out to make his mark on the Heat. With former ARC Champion Neal Bates right behind in the Toyota, Orders didn’t expect to fend him off for too long. Bates claimed 3rd and Orders retained 4th outright, his best result so far this year.
On the next 6km stage, less than 1 second separated first through to fourth place, Orders and Feaver only hundredths behind Bates.
On the next couple of stages, Bates pulled the rabbit out of hat that he claimed he didn’t have and consolidated 3rd, with Orders only 17 seconds in arrears.
On the Charleston stage Orders slipped to 7th fastest, the victim of running out of tyres, the service guys picking the best of the worn bunch to use.
Given Orders' dream run over the two Heats, claims of the team using fuel additives were made by some. Team principal, Michael Thompson, ordering immediate fuel tests conducted by BP – a preliminary clean bill of health being issued by BP for the team today and further tests scheduled to prove compliance at the BP testing labs this week. .
“We have spent all year developing our car to run on pump fuel," Thompson said. “I set out to prove a point that a car could run close to the front of an ARC, without the need for exotic race fuels or an unlimited amount of tyres. Our team has proved that point at this rally.”
The last stage saw Orders and Feaver start with tyres down almost to the canvas, resulting in tying with Scott Pedder's time on the stage and finishing 4th outright, first in P5 and 1st in the BP Ultimate Challenge.
Orders and Feaver now lead the BP Ultimate Challenge on 86 points going into the Rally of Melbourne in September.
Will and Toni are supported by Motorsport Parts and Administr8. Additional support is provided from Pedders, Repsol and new sponsor TSV Holdings.
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