The rally, which was also a round of the New Zealand National Rally Championship, commenced with three night stages on Friday followed by two full days of racing on Saturday and Sunday.
Holder, teamed with his older brother James as co-driver, took a steady approach to the Friday evening stages. Finding them challenging he was happy to end the night 2nd in the 1301-1600cc two wheel drive B class, and 7th overall in the Allcomers.
Saturday morning dawned and with growing confidence in using pacenotes, Holder put his head and foot down storming through the day taking the nearest competitor in their class by 1min 30sec, and beating all of the National Championship 2wd competitors for the daylight stages.
Going into the Sunday stages holding 4th overall, the brothers held a consistent pace taking it a little easier on the final stage to ensure they reached the end of the lengthy event. This approach paid off for the pair, claiming 3rd overall in Allcomers Rally of Otago and 1st in their class by over 2minutes by the time they reached the finish ramp.
“We seriously couldn’t have dreamed of this! We just stuck to our plan of driving our own rally and in the end we came away with a podium.” Holder said “We’re pretty stoked to be fair!”
Rounding off a great weekend, Holder was awarded a special prize by the rally organizers for an “Outstanding Drive by a Developing Driver” and scored two bottles of wine signed by the 1981 World Rally Champion Ari Vatanen. With this solid result the team are looking forward to what the future will bring.
The team would like to thank their sponsors, Monit Rally Computers, Strang Automotive, Attentive Design, and Tyreland Invercargill for their continued support, and the Rally of Otago organizers for putting on a brilliant event.
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