For the first time this season Brendan Reeves finds himself playing catch up in the Championship race, having dropped his lead to Scott Pedder at Scouts Rally SA. With Rally Australia next up though Reeves has confidently said he has one eye on the event’s endurance aspect but another on increasing his speed.
Reeves held the upper hand at the season’s mid point and felt comfortable that heading to the ultra fast roads in South Australia he could match the blistering speed Pedder had shown at Rally Queensland.
“The weekend in SA wasn’t really like Queensland. We definitely improved in quite a few areas and we managed to win quite a few stages, so that was good and positive,” said Reeves.
“Our big problem was we lost just too much time on a few stages, and that’s what hurt us. It depends which way you take it.”
After watching Pedder take a string of stage wins in Queensland, Reeves felt his outright speed had improved in South Australia but that he was let down by niggling problems with his Mazda2.
“There was a lot happening for us, between the wipers breaking, two flat batteries, losing a wheel, I guess you can’t just say we’ve been slower because there were a number of times I was just focused on making it to the finish,” he explained.
“This event was tough for everyone, between the three separate Heats, and the mix of forest roads and shire roads, added with the super wet and muddy and then roads that were dry and dusty.”
“With the problems I had though I really just had my mind on consolidating my position and getting the best result possible,” he added.
Set-up in the variable conditions proved key, with those drivers who had found a solid configuration with their suspension and handling revelling in the conditions, while those who lacked confidence in their cars' performance struggled.
“Having the Side-by-Sides and the Classics in front of us made the road conditions quite different from when we’d done recce, but when the road was consistent from start to finish I thought our setup was fine,” said Reeves. “But when there were four or five big surface changes during a stage it was really hard to get the setup right for all those different conditions, where the car is just nice for everything, but we weren’t achieving that.”
“Overall I’d say it was a bad event but we had pace in the end,” concluded Brendan.
Reeves though is quick to look ahead to the fifth Round of the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship, Coates Hire Rally Australia.
“I thought Rally Australia last year was my best event. It was the first event where we started to show reliability and pace, and we managed to win both the Nambuca (50km) stages.”
“Scott’s picked up the speed with his car this year, and we’re trying to do that as well, so we’ll just have to focus on the endurance side of the event and push on to do the best times we can really.”
Photo: Motorsport Photography