Christchurch’s Marcus van Klink will take the opportunity to reflect at round two of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Eneos International Rally of Whangarei.
Last season, van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill debuted the Buteline triple-rotor Mazda RX-8 at New Zealand’s round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and showed promising pace but ultimately suffered from reliability issues.
After plenty of hard work from the Klink Rallysport team throughout 2017 and across the off-season, the team has not only increased the reliability of the car, but also the speed, seeing van Klink make his best start to a season to date, with class victories each time the sweet-sounding Mazda has come off the trailer.
The Whangarei event is one that will test van Klink and his team, the northernmost round of the championship has often been a tough hunting ground with mechanical failures. He has tasted success in the past, winning the Motogard trophy for Historic cars in 2016.
“I can’t wait to run at Whangarei and hopefully see just how far our team has come in the past 12 months. The car is just a joy to drive now and I think the results so far this season have shown that,” says van Klink.
“Whangarei hasn’t always been a happy hunting ground for us, but I’m confident with the car that our guys have given us, so I’m looking forward to getting underway.”
The International Rally of Whangarei kicks off with a ceremonial start from 5pm on Friday on the Te Matau a Pohe Bridge, immediately followed by two passes of the Pohe Island super special stage.
Saturday morning sees eight special stages north of Whangarei totalling 150km, with Sunday seeing a further eight stages to the south to add another 125km to the route prior to the finish at the Whangarei town basin from 3pm.
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