Teenage rally competitor, Molly Taylor, has successfully finished her third NEC Australian Rally Championship round after an action-packed weekend at Capital Rally of Canberra. The weekend was going strongly for Molly, and co-driver, Dale Moscatt, and their Mitsubishi Mirage, with the duo finishing 9th after day one. Molly also claimed tenth outright in a dangerous night stage that claimed several cars and ARC contenders.
"I haven't done any night stages this year in the ARC, and I had a fantastic time. It's great for the spectators - they should make the whole rally a night stage!" she enthused. "I drove more aggressively in the dark. We did the repeat of that stage the next day, and it was far more daunting in the light as you could see the drop-offs and the danger."
However, the ACT rally is renowned for its harsh surfaces and testing conditions, and on day two, Molly's 1.6-litre 2WD Mirage lost second gear on a particularly rough stage. The crew scrambled to change the entire gearbox to a spare circuit racing 'box in the short 20 minute service break.
"It took only 28 minutes to change the 'box, and that was the first time we have had to do that in a high-pressure situation," said Molly. "The team was simply fantastic, we went into late time by only eight minutes, and the 40 second penalty only dropped us one place."
Despite this valiant effort by the team, it was the driveshaft that finally succumbed to the rough ACT roads in the final stage. The car mangaed to make it over the finish line, but the crew lost eight minutes, resulting in a commendable 15th outright placing for the weekend.
As the Canberra rally was not nominated as a point-scoring round, Molly still leads the F16 Championship. The team now has two months to prepare the car for the next round of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Toyota Rally South Australia, which will be held from August 10-12.
Molly would like to thank her sponsors, with a special mention to Pitman Trucks, who held centre stage on the Mirage's bonnet for the ACT round. The bonnet sponsorship had been auctioned off at a recent charity event at the NSW round of the Alphera Dutton Rally tarmac series, in which Molly successfully competed in a Mitsubishi Colt Ralliart.
To enquire about sponsorship opportunities, go to Molly's website, or contact Samantha Stevens on 0411 494414.
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