Tauranga’s Phil Campbell has endured a tough weekend at the final round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand to wrap up second place in the championship.
Campbell headed to the Trusthouse Racetech Rally Wairarapa in a solid position to wrap up the runner up spot, but a noise and the car popping out of fourth gear in the opening stage created worrying times for the 28-year old.
After surviving the opening two stages to reach the safety of service, Campbell was resigned to fighting wounded for the remainder of the day, but still well aware that a finish was what mattered to claim the all-important second place for the season
As the day continued on, Campbell and co-driver Venita Fabbro adjusted to the car continuing to pop out of fourth gear and were able to starting picking back up spots to climb from 14th after stage three, to a very relieved ninth by the end of the day, seventh of the NZRC runners.
The result was enough to secure the runner up spot, 29 points behind series champion Ben Hunt but crucially still 13 points ahead of third placed Matt Summerfield.
“It was certainly a tough weekend and not the rally result we were looking for to round out the season, but the biggest thing was to secure second in the championship and the whole team worked hard to make it happen,” said Campbell.
“I really need to thank all of the sponsors and everyone involved in the team who have made this year possible, it has been a great year with some really strong results. Now we need to come back next year and go one better.”
The Campbell Rally Sport team now look towards the off season and preparing to return to the NZRC in 2016.
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