A new rally partnership you’re likely to hear plenty about in the future will make their New Zealand Rally Championship debut this weekend at Rally Otago.
Riding beside young rally star Ari Pettigrew, 18, in the Stadium Cars Ford Fiesta will be experienced co-driver David Calder, and whilst this will be their first national championship event together, the pair first crossed paths fifteen years ago when Ari was just a toddler!
David Calder explains. “My first recollection of Ari was him as a 3-year-old standing in his parent’s driveway watching while his dad Dave helped us diagnose a computer tuning issue in the [Toyota] Corolla we were getting ready to start Canterbury Rally the next day. The year was 2002, my first year competing in the Mainland Rally Series as a co-driver. I was 18, the same age that Ari started national level rallying.
“Ari’s uncle Craig Jessop was on our service crew for that rally. At Ari’s NZRC debut this weekend, Craig is an Assistant Clerk of Course.”
Ari shot to prominence in rally circles with his stunning drive at Catlins Coast Rally last year on just his second rally event. He finished a remarkable 4th outright from 62nd seed driving a BMW 318i.
That certainly grabbed David’s attention as it did Tony Gosling at Stadium Cars, who has provided a left-hand drive Ford Fiesta ST for Ari to drive in this year’s two-wheel-drive national championship.
Once Ari had decided he wanted to write and develop his own pacenotes from the outset, the hunt was on to find a suitable co-driver with the experience he needed.
Calder was invited to join Ari’s team and with the pair both living in Canterbury, Pettigrew in Rangiora and Calder from Christchurch, that provided an ideal opportunity for the pair to spend time in a car preparing their pacenote system over the NZRC off-season.
“Our first time together in a rally car was late last year when we did a couple of rallysprints together and I was driving to pacenotes for the first time,” said Pettigrew.
“That worked out really well. David’s very experienced and he has lots of tips for helping me to fast-track my pacenote development.”
Calder has co-driven on events in the Asia-Pacific region with Australian driver Nathan Quinn over the last four years, and Ari joined their team at the world championship Rally Australia last year.
“It’s been really good to see how other drivers write their pacenotes, so I guess there’s an influence from Nathan and also Matt Summerfield in my style of notes,” added Pettigrew.
Prior to Rally Otago the pair competed in the Westland Rally, using the event as a shakedown for the car but this weekend will be their first rally together using pacenotes.
“The opportunity to work with Ari in his debut year of NZRC competition is a fantastic opportunity to help a talented young driver locally on the learning path, and share what experience I can to assist in the process.
“His natural car control behind the wheel was evident the first time I sat next to him. Beyond his driving ability, his mature personality, analytical approach and understanding of what is required to develop himself as a rally driver really stood out to me,” said Calder.
Along with Stadium Cars the pair have confirmed a partnership with DMACK tyres, in what promises to be an exciting season ahead.
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