Quinn outlasts rivals to conquer Heartland

Driving his much-loved Mazda RX2, Quinn and co-driver David Green were never the fastest crew in the event, but they were at the front when it mattered most – after 18 special stages.

Holbrook farmer Darkie Barr-Smith drove his new Holden Commodore V8 into second place, some three minutes off the lead, while the Victorian pairing of Jimmy and Mark Leoncini stormed home third in their Toyota Corolla.

The third and final day of the Rally of the Heartland took the remaining teams on a further four stages to the north east of Burra.

Following the retirements of early leader Mal Keough (Audi Quattro) and Stuart Bowes (Mercedes Benz) on Saturday morning, Quinn trailed the Ford Escort RS Cosworth of Glenn Brinkman until the Queenslander put his car off the road.

An excursion through a fence activated the emergency stop button on the Escort, and by the time Brinkman could fix the problem his chances of victory were well and truly gone.

From then on the rally was Quinn’s to lose, but as usual he drove his Mazda RX2 with precision to eventually come home victorious by three minutes and 19 seconds.

Barr-Smith and Andrew Travis hadn’t even tested their recently purchased Commodore before the rally, but they quickly came to grips with the car to lead home everyone but Quinn.

The Leoncini cousins trailed Jeff David and Grant Geelan’s beautiful Porsche 911 RS SC at the start of the day, but with new tyres fitted they charged from fourth to third by day’s end.

The eventual margin to David was 15 seconds, while Ross Yendle and Stephen McKinnon took the final spot in the top five in their Ford Escort.

The rally was also the opening round of the South Australian Rally Championship, although those crews didn’t contest the 72km stage on Saturday night.

Matt Selley and Hamish McKendrick were clearly the class of the field in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 8, over five minutes ahead of the Victorian husband and wife pairing of Darren and Michelle Crozier in a Subaru Impreza WRX.

Late suspension problems saw Guy Tyler and Tania Wearing drop from second to last in their Mitsubishi Magna, allowing veteran Rob Hunt to climb onto the final step of the podium in third.

The 2024 version of the Rally of the Heartland was held in warm and dry conditions with dust playing a real part in stage times.

Roads were generally rougher and dustier than last year, so simply finishing the rally was a significant achievement.

Full results from the Rally of the Heartland can be found HERE.