Steve Shepheard and John McCarthy have finished the 2011 Bosch ARC in third position after a bittersweet last round at Rally Victoria.

“We came here with a long shot, mathematical chance at the title, but we really just concentrated on stepping up our pace and trying to jump from fourth to third in the series standings, and we achieved both,“ said Steve after the dust had settled..

Heat One on Friday saw the Evo X finish fourth outright, after the team chased a fuel pressure problem, but the boys could see they had great pace.

“Stage one the car was great, and we set third quickest time behind Simon Evans and Smarty, but then the gremlin hit, but we were able to win both the Lardner Park Super Special Stages.

“The team were able to find the problem at evening service, so we went into Heat two ready for a fight."

Heat two saw three straight third quickest times, and only seconds behind the leading Evans Subaru.

“That’s our best pace ever, best from the car, and from Steve and I," said McCarthy. “It was what we set out to do here, to step our pace up and be right in the fight for the lead."

The team's weekend came to an abrupt end on stage four when the car nudged a bank and quickly rolled over.

“It was one of those ones when there was inches in it, but we clipped the bank and she went over in an instant," Shepheard said. “We were a bit dazed, but we drove straight off again and the car felt pretty good, so we slowly crept the pace back up. But about 5km later the rear suspension collapsed from damage, so that was us finished."

The fourth place in heat One was enough to secure third outright in the series.

Team Principal George Shepheard was not worried about the roll.

“When you make that next step in pace, like Steve and John did this weekend, things like this will happen, so we will debrief about it, learn, and be ready to show the same pace at Rally Calder 2012."

The SACHS Rally Team wish to congratulate all the 2011 ARC class winners, especially new ARC Champs, Justin Dowel and Matt Lee, and thank our team sponsors and partners for support during 2011.

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