Kaiapoi’s Marcus van Klink is looking for more of the same when round three of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally Wairarapa, kicks into gear this weekend.
At round two, van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill took a dominant victory in the classic class of the NZRC, completing the event in the Mico Plumbing Group B Mazda RX-7 as top two-wheel drive in fifth overall and almost 13 minutes ahead of the nearest classic category competitor.
van Klink gained the New Zealand Classic Championship lead with the Rally New Zealand victory and will be looking to extend that lead on the roads north of Masterton.
As well as NZRC points on offer, Wairarapa is also the second and final round of the Classic Challenge trophy, with round one at the opening NZRC round in Otago. A broken wheel cost van Klink on that event, although with some of the series leaders not making the trip to the second round, a win could see van Klink take the series dependant on other results.
“It would be great to win the Classic Challenge trophy, although we need to rely on a few others to make it happen,” says van Klink. “At the end of the day, we really have to focus on the NZRC but what will be, will be.”
A further trophy is on the line for the classics within Rally Wairarapa with the Malcolm Stewart Memorial classic rally, named after the long-time rally campaigner. van Klink’s Palmside-prepared Mazda will be the first of the seventeen classics to tackle the special stages, his top seeding reflecting his status as favourite to take out the event.
After a ceremonial start at the Solway Park resort in Masterton on Friday night, the action gets underway the following day with eight special stages totalling 157.91 kilometres around the Pongaroa region. Day two sees the cars in the Eketahuna area, with a further nine stages before the ceremonial finish back at Solway Park at 4.15pm.
Press Release by BB Media
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