With his entry in next weekend's Rally Whangarei confirmed, Brendan Reeves received the good news from the Asia Pacific Rally Championship executive that his application for financial travel assistance to attend the event has been granted.
As a privately run team, Reeves and his co-driving sister, Rhianon Smyth, are thankful for all the support they receive, and to receive some financial assistance towards their travel expenses is fantastic news.
"This is awesome news. We were very excited when we received notification of the assistance package,"Â Reeves commented.
Reeves and Smyth are one of seven crews who have registered for the Pirelli Star Driver award, of which Rally Whangarei is a nominated event, but they are the only non-New Zealand crew. They will contest the event in a Ford Fiesta from Kayne Barrie Motorsport.
Rally of Whangarei is the first qualifying event for the 'star driver search' which sees entrants assessed via a separate points rating during the two day event. The top two Pirelli award drivers then receive financial assistance to contest the second qualifying event, Rally Malaysia, in October this year. The winner in Malaysia, the Asia Pacific Pirelli star driver, will join four other regional winners to contest six FIA World Rally Championship events in 2009 in a dedicated Pirelli-funded works rally team.
Reeves and Smyth are this weekend contesting round 2 of the South Australian Rally Championship, the Robertstown Walky 100 Rally, in their Subaru RS in their quest to gain more pace noting experience. The team will then head to New Zealand on Tuesday to begin preparations for Rally Whangarei which takes place on June 7 and 8.
For more information on Reeves' NZ adventure, visit his website www.brendanreeves.com.au
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