The leading rally stars in Australia have hailed new stages introduced into the 2008 Sprint Auto Parts Rally SA as ‘fantastic, fast and challenging’ following official recce and testing this week.
Some of the leading combinations have also had the chance to ‘get their eye in’ around a specially constructed 3.2km Special Stage in the Mount Crawford forest this morning – initial times indicating that this weekends’ event may be one of the closest of the year.
Team TRD drivers Neal Bates and Simon Evans were quickest in the shakedown, taking their S2000 Toyota Corolla’s to a joint best time of 1m36s.
Subaru driver Eli Evans was third (1m37s) whilst Spencer Lowndes (Access Hardware Mitsubishi Lancer), Michael Guest (Pirtek Rallying Subaru Impreza), Steven Sheppard (Oztec 4WD Suspension Mitsubishi) and Darren Windus (Japanese Wholesale Ford Fiesta S2000) were all tied at 1m39s.
The shakedown run was mostly trouble free – though group N (P) driver Glen Raymond lost a tail shaft from his Toyota Corolla Sportivo and Molly Taylor was forced to fix a gear linkage with a bobby pin to complete the run in her F16 Mitsubishi Mirage.
However it was the new roads and stages introduced to the rally this season that was the talk amongst the established ARC elite.
“The stages look fantastic, I think this is probably one of the quickest rallies I’ve ever seen,” Two-time Australian Rally Champion Simon Evans said.
“I think this is an event that may suit the Group N cars more than ours, but when you in a car that rewards aggressive driving like my S2000 Toyota Corolla you know it’s going to be great fun. As ever we’ll give it everything, though there are some stages with straights where we’ll be doing 180km/hr and have time to have a coffee and a chat!” he joked.
Pirtek Rally driver Michael Guest echoed his rivals’ thoughts and believed that he had a strong chance at a top result this weekend.
“Based on the improvements we made to the car at Queensland, I’d say that we’re going to be very competitive here,” Guest said, after his team changed both an engine and suspension settings prior to the most recent round of the 2008 series.
“I think this event will suit myself, Eli (Evans) and Spencer (Lowndes) perhaps just a little bit more than the S2000 cars, but really we have to congratulate (Event Organiser) Ivar (Stanelis) and the Sprint Auto Parts team. They have done a fantastic job. The new stages are brilliant and it’s a great mix – some we’ll be flat out at 200 km/hr and some are tight and technical. It’s going to be a great event.”
Third in the championship, Spencer Lowndes has flown the Mitsubishi flag this season and is another looking forward to the stages this weekend.
“Coming from Victoria, we just don’t get the kind of access to these fantastic roads like the ones in the event this weekend, ” he said.
“It’s great that the event has the support to get on these roads, because the new stages are awesome.”
The Sprint Auto Parts Rally SA gets underway tonight with two runs around the Angaston Super Special stage that was so popular with both fans and drivers last year.
Competitors will then tackle a further 100 competitive kilometres on the high-speed shire and forestry roads that make up leg one before another run around the super special to begin Leg two, Saturday night.
More than 50 cars will take part in an event that doubles as a round of both the Australian and South Australian Rally Championships.
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