Young Western Australian rally drivers, Tom and Nerralie Wilde, have taken out the 4WD section of the Rallyschool.com.au Australian Junior Challenge at Rally Australia on the Coffs Coast this weekend.
The talented twins won the Western Australian Rally Championship last year at the tender age of 23 and have spent the year preparing their Subaru WRX Sti for this event.
The reigning WARC champs experienced numerous mechanical issues on the first day on the Coffs Coast but as the rally progressed into the second day, the pair hit their straps and took the win by just over two minutes.
“We had electrical problems and then brake problems and my gear lever got stuck on the first day so we were about 50 seconds behind in the Junior Challenge,” Tom Wilde said. “But we came out on the second day and went hard and caught the time all up again.”
The Wilde’s main competition came from Alexander Nott and David Langfield in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV but once the South Australians had problems of their own, the Wilde’s grasped the ascendancy and never looked back.
“The guy we were chasing had a few problems as well, after we took the lead and knew we had a bit of a lead, then we backed off a little just so we could get to the finish.”
Wilde said it paid to be persistent after a disappointing first day.
“It was pretty disappointing after the first day with all the problems but, yeah, to come out with it after our luck changed on the second day was pretty good,” he said. “It means everything to me: It’s what we’ve been working towards the whole year.”
As the Junior Challenge 4WD class winners, the pair from Nannup, WA will receive free entry to the final Australian Rally Championship round in Victoria, $2000 cash to convert their car to ARC standards and eight Kumho tyres - a $6000 total package.
SUBSCRIBE BELOW TO READ THE FULL STORY
