Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Smyth have returned to South Australia for this weekend's Sprint Auto Parts Rally South Australia. Whilst the event is the final round of the 2009 Australian Rally Championship, Reeves will contest the South Australian Rally Championship component of the event, with the aim of winning the state series this year.
After a very long day of recce yesterday, Reeves is confident of a good result this weekend. The team have worked hard in the lead up to the event to make sure everything is in place for a top finish. Since the Robertstown Rally (the previous SARC round which Reeves won), the team have made some changes to the differential on the RallySchool.com.au Subuaru STI and have also bolted on a set of new Pirelli soft tyres.
Despite having contested Rally South Australia in 2007, Reeves and Smyth wrote new pace notes for every stage of the rally - a long and arduous task which meant over 12 hours in the recce car yesterday - however the young Victorian feels it is essential as he and Smyth are continually evolving and improving their pace note system.
"I am continually learning and I think it's important to write new notes for each event I go in," he said. "The notes that were fine for me in 2007 aren't necessarily the notes that I'd like to drive to now, so it is time well spent in the car."
Starting at Car 25 on the road (as SARC competitors start behind the ARC entrants), Reeves doesn't feel his road position will be detrimental to a good result. Despite recent rain in the area most of the roads are in excellent condition and it will only be on the more sandy surfaces that he feels extra care will need to be taken.
"This is one of my favourite rallies," Reeves said. "I absolutely love the roads here and I am starting to get a little more familiar with them, which helps.  We are hoping for another great result this weekend and are aiming for maximum points in the SARC again."
After taking part in this morning's Media Day, Reeves will then eagerly await the start of the rally this evening with the Super Special Stage to be held in Angaston.
The rally proper gets underway on Saturday morning with stages to be held in the Barossa and Eden Valley regions.
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
