Mount Maunganui’s David Holder has retained his lead in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, despite crashing out at the third round, the Joe’s Garage/Lonestar Rally Canterbury.
Holder came into the event with a strong lead after his debut victory at Rally Whangarei, but trouble struck early when a river crossing caused the engine to almost die and almost a minute and a half was lost.
A fightback began on stage two as Holder continued to set a string of top five stage times, well aware that a solid finish was more important than risking everything for an outright victory. By the end of the fifth special stage, Holder and co-driver Jason Farmer worked the Stadium Finance Mitsubishi into fourth and only 12 seconds away from a podium place. That was despite once again losing time in the same water crossing on stage five, a repeat of the day’s opener.
Disaster would strike on stage six however. A small lack in concentration saw Holder miss a breaking point and slide off the road, rolling into some bushes and out of the event.
“Obviously I’m gutted, it was a silly mistake and it certainly wasn’t part of the plan for the event,” said Holder in hindsight. “The only upside is it looks like where we landed was pretty soft and the damage certainly could be a lot worse.”
“I guess the beauty of the situation we were in with the points was we effectively had a get out of jail free card, although you never want to use it. We’ve kept our championship lead, but it really puts the pressure on to secure a good result at Gisborne.”
Holder still leads the championship by six points with two rounds remaining. The Holder Brothers Racing team now prepare themselves for Rally Gisborne on July 2.
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