He may have fallen tantalisingly short in the race to become the new Australian Rally Champion, but Brendan Reeves is insisting he’s staying upbeat despite his future in rallying appearing uncertain at this stage.
Reeves was reliant on arch rival Scott Pedder making a catastrophic mistake, and things appeared to be playing into his hands when Pedder’s Clio crashed heavily during the Friday morning Power Stage in Victoria.
Then during the afternoon’s competitive stages Reeves’ title hopes began to unravel when a sway bar broke in the rear of his Mazda2, and then a flat tyre ruined any chances on the opening stage of Saturday morning.
Despite all this Reeves was buoyant at the events finish ramp. “We are pretty happy considering the long year we’ve had. The pressure was on Scott not to make a mistake, the pressure was on me to win, and unfortunately I didn’t do my bit very well and he did,” said Brendan.
“But really happy to get second in the Championship for the team,” he added. “It’s been a really long, tough, challenging year, to win at Canberra and again in Perth, and then to fight all the way to Victoria has been a big challenge.”
Reeves was full of praise for his rival, saying the Renault driver richly deserved the title after the two pushed each other tooth and nail throughout the season.
“Scott’s had a pretty good team behind him - with Dale, himself, the car and Walkinshaw – it’s a pretty formidable combination and we knew that coming into this season.”
“We came in with a years experience behind us too, and it was a great race each and every Round. I think it was one of the best tightly fought Championships for a long time, and for it to come all the way down to that very last Heat is pretty amazing,” Brendan continued.
Having confirmed that this would be his last event in the rallyschool.com.au run Mazda2, Reeves admitted that for now his rallying future remains unclear.
“I’m not sure now, I need to really revaluate. I’ve got time before the Championships start again next year, but which Championship exactly I’m not sure. I’ve loved my two years in the ARC, this is the place I want to be, but at the same time I’ve loved rallying in America and Europe but money’s the big thing.”
“This weekend I never gave up, I kept pushing, because you never know who’s watching and we wanted to show we’ve got the pace if anyone is willing to put us in the car,” commented Brendan.
“For sure I wanted to win the ARC, and still want to win it, to have that on your resume is an awesome thing. Having won the 2WD in the American series last year I would have dearly loved to win the 2WD outright in the ARC this year. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and I definitely want to come back and try again.”
“It’s been a friendly competition between Scott and I all year, that’s made it hugely enjoyable. And I hope we both have the chance to do that again,” he added.
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