New Zealanders Dave Holder and Jason Farmer have enjoyed a more positive day on Saturday in Turkey, despite the challenging heat and tough road conditions. The pair finished the day’s 130.62km of competition with two second-fastest stage times in their class, to achieve their best stage results to date in their debut season in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship.
Their combined times for Saturday’s six stages sees them third quickest among the 12-strong JWRC field. However the impact of having restarted the rally under Rally2 regulations on Saturday morning, following the three punctures which took them out of Friday’s proceedings, means that Holder and Farmer are 10th overall on the JWRC leader-board.
Holder says: “We’re really happy with day, pretty consistent all round. Most importantly we looked after the car really well as other people didn’t in some places. We were just trying to manage the pace and look after things like drive shafts in the rough sections, so pretty happy with that.
“We were rewarded with being third fastest for the day and a couple of second fastest stage times this afternoon. These are positive results for us. We know a few of the front guys are still pushing for stage wins so it’s a nice feeling that we’re on the pace where we could be.
“We’re looking to do more of the same tomorrow, only a few short stages, see how we go. If we look at the results from today without yesterday’s punctures and having to restart, we’d be leading the rally – that is pretty disappointing but that’s also rallying – there are always some challenges.”
Rally Turkey – and Holder’s debut JWRC season – concludes on Sunday with just four stages, totalling 34.98km.
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