The Raymond Partners Accountants Rally Team has stamped themselves as a top ten competitor after the fourth round of the Australian Rally Championship, the Subaru Safari Rally Tasmania.
Based out of Tasmania’s photogenic Huon Valley, the roads offered a challenging mix of slippery and fast conditions.
The wet conditions presented a challenge to the crew of Glen and Matt Raymond, as this was their first experience of wet weather driving in a 4WD car. The whole team would experience a learning curve, but leaving the team excited for the challenges presented by the event.
Despite taking a conservative approach, they were still placed 7th outright half way through the first day. "We started off the morning taking it easy, just gaining the experience in untested conditions," stated navigator Matt Raymond, "but in the afternoon we started to push and set consistent 6th outright times and even knocked off some of the big boys!"
Pushing up into 6th place, the excitement for the team's first top 6 result were dashed when they suffered a flat tyre on the last stage, a problem due to the very rocky nature of the roads. Despite the disappointment, the team were ecstatic to finish in =7th outright and win their class.
"The car ran superbly, and to come away from a learning day with seventh at Australian level is just awesome!" said an excited Glen Raymond.
The excitement carried forward to the next day with the crew sitting in 8th outright, 1st in class half way through the second day. The prospect of another solid result was dashed when a front driveshaft broke, and with over 100 kilometres of driving left without service the decision was made to pull out before any more damage was done.
Despite the retirement, the team is thrilled with their results from the weekend, and excited to be known as one of the crowd favourites.
Preparations for the next round of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Toyota Rally SA, held in the Barossa Valley on August 19-20 are already under way.
The team would like to thank Raymond Partners Accountants, Bendigo Bank, JNJ Electrical Contractors, Quality Site Welding, Albroys Subaru, and Legible Signs.
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