Darren Windus’ return to the East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship has been delayed by one round, after time constraints to prepare a pair of Subaru Impreza WRX’s for he and his son didn’t leave enough time to make it to the opening event in Western Australia later this month.
Windus, who made a surprise appearance at last November’s Rally Victoria, had planned to contest the full Championship in a 2006-spec WRX alongside a similar car for his son Aaron starting at the Quit Forest Rally.
“Unfortunately the amount of work required to get both cars ready, well, we just don’t have enough time to get them finished and across to the other side of the country,” Darren said. “By skipping WA we buy ourselves another couple of months to make sure everything is absolutely perfect.”
“We made the decision only a month ago to even be in WA, and we had to make the call this week if we would make it or not. It’s really disappointing, I was really looking forward to the Forest Rally, it’s one of my favourite events!”
Windus rose to prominence during the mid-2000’s driving a Group N Impreza, before he joined the short-lived Ford Super 2000 program alongside Michael Guest in a pair of Pirtek sponsored Fiesta’s.
After the collapse of Ford’s rally program Windus made two one-off appearances in an ex-Neal Bates Toyota Corolla S2000 in 2009 and 2010, before bowing out of the sport.
Then last year he burst back onto the seen in a Subaru Legacy to grab a surprise win on the Victorian Rally Championship Round, the East Gippsland Stages. “I’d bought that car, which was a very rough car, basically to get my son into rallying. So to win that very first event we contested was a big surprise,” Darren explained.
“And that kind of kick started things, so we bought an old Impreza and did Rally Bonnie Doon, and won that too!” added Windus who claimed victory ahead of Justin Dowel, Mark Pedder and Simon Evans.
The plan to run a two car team alongside son Aaron came about after he managed to secure second outright in the Victorian Club Autocross Championship. “He did amazingly well, and he definitely has the ability to be a quick rally driver, so I thought ‘why not throw him in the deep end’ and that’s where the idea came from,” said Darren.
“Originally my plan was just to be in the background, to guide him, but I guess the rally bug bit me again and I just couldn’t help myself but get back into it too!”
With the disappointment of missing the opening Round of the ECB ARC, Windus has said he will instead focus his efforts on having both cars prepared in time for the first Round of the Victorian Rally Championship.
“We will use that as a proper shakedown, and then get ready for the National Capital Rally as our first proper appearance for the year. I can’t wait to get back out there!”
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