Brendan Reeves will start this month’s Kennards Hire Rally Australia as the top seeded Australian in a quality field of international and local drivers.
Reeves will contest the final round of the World Rally Championship (WRC), to be based at Coffs Harbour, in his Subaru WRX after a stellar season.
With sister Rhianon Gelsomino co-driving, Reeves has won all three events he has competed in this year - two rounds of the Australian Rally Championship and one round of the New Zealand Rally Championship - and will take that form into Rally Australia.
The pair also recently drove the tarmac stages of WRC Rally Spain as gravel crew for Hayden Paddon (Hyundai Motorsport), and are very excited to be competing again.
Reeves' Subaru will sport a fresh new livery for Kennards Hire Rally Australia.Reeves has entered the ASN class of the World Rally Championship and he will compete against a quality field of WRC2 teams, the majority of whom have contested multiple WRC events this year.
After winning both the National Capital Rally and Lightforce Rally SA, Reeves believes his Subaru is well set up for the event and with a prize on offer for the first Australian team home, he’ll be looking to go flat out from the word go.
The team from Bendigo Tyre Centre have prepared the car in readiness for the rally, whilst the engine has been fine tuned to suit the longer length of the WRC event, thanks to Grant Heywood.
Reeves will use Pirelli Tyres on the Subaru so will not be part of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC) category.
Reeves and Gelsomino last competed in Rally Australia in 2014 and have been using the in-car footage from the 2015 event on WRC+ to familiarise themselves with this year’s stages.
As an ambassador for Kennards Hire Rally Australia, Reeves is really looking forward to the event.
“I’m really excited about this year’s Rally Australia,” he said. “I love that the organisers have brought back the Super Special Stage along the Coffs Harbour jetty, and the addition of the Raleigh Super Special Stage will be awesome, too.
“I’m expecting huge crowds out on the stages and I can’t wait to get out there and see how we perform against the world’s best.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to clinch the ‘first Aussie home’ prize.”
Reeves and Gelsomino are inviting supporters to ‘ride along’ with them at Rally Australia. For just $100, rally fans can have their name featured on the bonnet of the Subaru. The pair offered the same opportunity at Rally Australia in 2011 and it was well supported.
All supporters whose name is featured on the bonnet will go in a draw after the rally to win Brendan’s RPM driving gloves which he has worn in his three rally wins this year. The gloves will be signed by Brendan after Rally Australia.
Fans keen to have their name featured should contact Rhianon by email at rhirally@gmail.com as only 40 places are available.
Kennards Hire Rally Australia runs from November 17 to 20.
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