Molly Taylor has finished runner-up in the 2015 Australian Rally Championship, declaring she is delighted to have traded times all season with three-time champion, Eli Evans – and warning she will be even better prepared next year.
Taylor and co-driver Bill Hayes came into the final round, the Scouts Rally SA, with the potential to make history as the first female driver to win the national crown, but mechanical issues with their Renault Clio R3, and a rival who was faultless throughout the weekend, made the achievement impossible.
Eli Evans and Glen Weston (Citroën DS3 R3) claimed victory for the event, and their third title, with Taylor and Hayes second on both counts. Ashley James and Dennis Neagle claimed third place on the podium for the final event of the year, driving a VW Polo Vivo.
“We’re pretty satisfied with our performance this weekend and this year, despite the challenges, because we’re at the level we want to be,” Taylor says.
“We pushed hard and we certainly weren’t going to go down this weekend without a fight but realistically, for us to win the title, Eli would have had to have a major issue or make a mistake, and he hasn’t made too many this year.
“He’s given us a master class all year in how to get the job done and it’s been great to have him as a benchmark to check my performance against.
“We’ve traded fastest times across the five events and he says he has not backed off, so that proves we are very much on the pace. I’ve learned a lot from our battles and I just need to step it up even more next year.”
The electrical issues that slowed Taylor and Hayes in their last round (Coates Hire Rally Australia, in September) re-emerged over the weekend in South Australia, leaving them low on power at low revs. It caused major problems in an event that featured many junctions where crews had to slow down and then build speed again in a hurry.
Then, with a right front shock absorber snapping in half on Saturday and the clutch going on Sunday, the pair had to finish both days trying to drive around the problems. They still managed to post competitive times while struggling to keep the Renault on the road.
Taylor has paid tribute to her Perth-based offsider, describing him as co-driver and mechanic extraordinaire and psychologist – when situations demanded a pep talk – and has also thanked her crew for their efforts across the season.
“This result is for them. Our crew are all volunteers and we’ve done the championship on a shoestring budget. Money does make a difference in motorsport, and we didn’t have a lot of that, but hard work can achieve great things too.
“We didn’t win the championship but we fought really hard and proved a lot, and that was encouraging. I’ve had so much support from so many wonderful people to do this and it has been a collective effort. It just shows what you can achieve when you pull together and I’m very grateful for all of that help and faith.”
The 27-year-old Sydney resident started rallying 10 years ago and won two class titles in Australia before moving to the UK in 2009 to chase her dream of a career in world rallying.
She competed in the British, European and World Rally Championships and during that time she was named British Ladies Champion two years in a row, won the inaugural European Rally Championship Ladies Trophy and was officially recognised as the fastest female rally driver in the world (2013).
Taylor made history this year when she became the first female driver ever to win a heat in a round of Australia’s national rally series (Quit Forest Rally, WA) and followed that up with an outright win at the National Capital Rally in Canberra.
While she is still finalising plans for her rally program in 2016, another tilt at the Australian title looks certain, along with selected international events. Winning the Australian championship is very much on the bucket list.
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