Coffs Harbour local Nathan Quinn has been awarded the Kumho Future Champions encouragement award at round three of the Australian Rally Championship, the Allied Air Conditioning Coffs Coast Rally.

Quinn, driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and partnered by co-driver David Green were judged winners of the award after holding second for much of heat one and taking second in heat two.

The pair were sitting in second up until the last stage of heat one when they were forced to retire with radiator and engine damage.

Showing their grit and determination Quinn and his service team, led by former touring car guru Neil Lowe, worked on the car until the early hours of Sudnay morning to ensure the car could contest heat two.

They made the parc ferme deadline at 12.40am by just a few minutes ensuring they were eligible to start heat two.

With the car repaired Quinn set himself the goal of a top five finish in Sunday's heat and he easily achieved that taking second by more than two minutes, posting an impressive equal fourth outright for the rally.

"It's great to have won the Kumho Future Champions Award especially after the effort the team put in on Saturday night to get the car going again and I would like to thank my co-driver Greeny, the crew and Kumho for recognising our efforts," said Nathan Quinn.

"I think we all sat back and said there was a point there when we weren't going to make the heat two start but there was a lot of determination so to come from that point and take second in the heat and to finish fourth after not finishing on Saturday was pretty special for all of us," he added.

"The eight tyres we have won as part of the Kumho award are going to come in handy as we head to the next round in South Australia and we really appreciate the recognition Kumho has given us with this award," he added.

The Kumho Future Champions Award is judged by Kumho and ARC management based on the ARC team which has shown the most professionalism, performance, determination and potential to become a future Australian Rally Champions.

According to Kumho Motorsport coordinator John Mills, Nathan Quinn was judged as the winner of the Award at Coffs because of the  never say die attitude, the speed  and professionalism he and his team showed.

"It was a very close fought thing with Queensland brother and sister team Ryan and Rebecca Smart finishing third outright also in the running for the award however we decided the performance Nathan and his team put in could not be overlooked," said John Mills.

The Kumho Future Champions Award has been designed to acknowledge ARC drivers efforts and give them the encouragement and incentive to continue in what is a demanding and expensive sport.

As control tyre supplier, Kumho is putting its backing into the Australian Rally Championship with a reduction in the cost of tyres, encouragement awards and a significant rights fees going to the sport, Kumho's commitment to rallying is by far the largest commercial backing for the sport this year.

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