Brendan Reeves has finished in the top five of the Fiesta International Shootout in the UK against outstanding competition.Â
Reeves was leading the 18 contestants after day one of the two day 'test', finishing on top after the physical, psychological and media tests, and had a nervous night ahead of day two's driving tests.
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Faced with extremely icy and slippery conditions, contestants were to drive three runs of the 3.2 kilometre forestry course. Road conditions were so dangerous that event organisers had grit added to the roads in order to try and break up the ice, and recce was delayed for an hour.
Reeves started cautiously on his first run, familiarising himself with the conditions, and on his second run, he improved his time by ten seconds. Unfortunately, the young Victorian didn't get the opportunity to have a third run, as Elfyn Evans, whose car Reeves had leased and was sharing for the event, rolled the car on his second run, leaving Reeves with no alternative but to miss his final drive. The best two times counted towards the final result, putting Reeves at a disadvantage.
After the driving tests, the top five contenders were announced, and Reeves was included in this elite group. He and the other four contenders were then interviewed by M-Sport boss, Malcolm Wilson, and former World Rally Champion, Marcus Gronholm, before Belgian Mathias Boon was announced as the lucky winner of a 12 month contract with M-Sport.
Reeves was stoked to be included in the top five and said the driving conditions were unbelievably difficult. "I have never driven on anything like those roads before," he said.
"It would have been great to win, but I have learnt so much from the last two days and will take that away to build on for the future. I've also met some great people - being interviewed by Malcolm Wilson is pretty unbelievable!"
All of the top five contenders were under 24 years old, and Reeves was the only non-European finalist, the others being from Belgium, UK, Turkey and Sweden.
New Zealand's Patrick Malley also performed extremely well in the Shootout, finishing just outside the top five, proving there is plenty of international-standard talent 'down under'.
VISIT BRENDAN REEVES' WEBSITE FOR MORE PHOTOS FOR THE TWO DAY COMPETITION
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