The event was again based out of the picturesque Lardner Park, Warragul, and hosted the Media and VIP Rides day, Service Park, Event Headquarters, Super Special Spectator Stages and Event Podium.
The gonutsforcars.com.au Rally Team successfully completed Heat 2 of the ARC round after repairs were made to the car from their blown turbo in Heat 1. The team viewed the unfortunate incident as a blessing as they were able to complete two stages for practice before having to head to service.
Bosch ARC crews contested Heat 1 over 75 kilometres, consisting of two forest stages run twice each and two Super Special Stages at Lardner Park on the Friday to entertain the public. Saturday saw the VRC crews (incorporating the Hyundai Excel Series) joining the event and competing behind Heat 2 of the ARC over 150 km on eight spectacular forest stages and finishing off with a final dash around the Lardner Super Special. The gonutsforcars.com.au Rally Team were extremely excited to place second on this final stage by a mere one second to the team of Stewart / Zinstaag.
“We were delighted to find out we had placed fourth outright at the end of the event in the VRC and 14th outright in the ARC in Heat 2! It just goes to show how much David and I have gelled as a team during the year. It’s all come together beautifully! I had an amazing time and I was loving the pace notes and having David commit to them and driving the car like it was stolen!” said Kelley. “I am thrilled that David has asked me to be part of the team again and I cannot wait for 2012!”
“We were really on song today and our heads were in the right space, even after the day one blown turbo. I had sat beside John Bertrand AM on Wednesday night before the rally, at a Rotary Club of Berwick Fundraiser of which I am a committee member and JB was telling us as guest speaker, how he got his team’s head in the right space to win ‘The Cup’ and Cathy Freeman’s response to him trackside after her winning run at Sydney 2000 was about all the components of the race, not the win. So consequently, after the turbo died, I thought bugger this, we’re going to do Saturday one corner at a time and we got an excellent result. Happiness!” Nutter said.
The Gonutsforcars.com.au Rally Team would like to congratulate Warren Lee and David Lethlean on winning the VRC Championship as well as all of the other crews who successfully completed the event, and thank their faithful sponsors;
David Nutter Ford Used Cars, Berwick Volkswagen Used Cars, & their Service Departments, Castrol, Hayman Reece Tow Products, David Nutter Subaru Parts & Service, SignActive, The Tint Joint, The Layne Beachley Aim For the Stars Foundation, Garden Save and Home Maintenance Vic, plus the series sponsor Exedy clutches, the David Nutter Ford and Berwick Volkswagen Used Cars Service Crew who have worked tirelessly and all the volunteer officials and directing team at Rally Victoria who made it possible to go rallying and have so much fun!
Additional photos at https://www.facebook.com/JKRallysport
Photos courtesy of Daniel Gangur and Craig O’Brien.
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
