Kaiapoi’s Marcus van Klink has recorded a near perfect result at the second round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the International Rally of Whangarei, over the weekend.
The event is one that van Klink always looks forward to and he started well this year as the fastest historic across the two opening super special stages.
Out on the full length stages the following day, van Klink moved the Chesters Plumbing Supplies Mazda RX-7 ahead early when he won two of the three stages, opening up a gap of close to 25 seconds, while also battling hard for the two-wheel drive lead.
The afternoon loop really saw van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill really put their foot down and added more than a minute to their historic lead, also taking a slim 1.4 second lead in the unofficial battle for top two-wheel drive cars.
With a comfortable class lead, many would have forgiven van Klink for backing off and securing the historic win, but instead he charged on, moving up to seventh overall, first historic and first two-wheel drive car after an intense battle, just four seconds ahead of Anthony Jones.
As well as top historic points, van Klink also won the Motogard Trophy, awarded between 1978-82 to the winner of Rally New Zealand. With his victory over the weekend, van Klink puts his name alongside legends of world rallying including Hannu Mikkola and Bjorn Waldegard.
“Really it was a dream run, we were pushed hard in the two-wheel drive battle all weekend but nailed it, took maximum points for the championship and had a hell of a lot of fun,” says van Klink. “It’s pretty cool to win the Motogard Trophy, that’ll look good on the mantelpiece!”
Klink Rallysport now turn their attention to their home event, Rally Canterbury, on June 4-5.
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