South Canterbury Rally one to forget for Gilmour

All drivers have a rally to forget every once in a while, and Saturday’s South Canterbury Hydraulics Rally South Canterbury was that event for Emma Gilmour.

She describes the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship’s second round as “pretty average from the first stage” and instead of improving as the day progressed, it unfortunately ended in her first DNF in three years.

“My Vantage Windows & Doors Citroen C3 had an ECU problem on stage 1, which meant the car cut out – causing us to stop and reboot – costing us time. Then rear brake issues caused more time loss on stages 2 and 3, before service,” Emma says.

The Paddon Rallysport team remedied the issues before Emma and co-driver Ben Searcy went back out and achieved solid runs through the next trio of stages, bagging a power stage point for the round.

“Then unfortunately in stage 7, which was a repeat of stage 1, we got caught out by an unseen rock. It smashed our wheel and suspension, destroying our chances of a solid finish in the rally as the damage meant it was game over,” Emma says.

The silver lining of a tough event was Emma Gilmour and her co-driver Ben Searcy scored a power stage point in the South Canterbury Hydraulics Rally South Canterbury on Saturday. Photo credit: Paddon Rallysport.

Despite the disappointing result, Emma is already looking ahead. With only three weeks until the next NZRC round in Canterbury on June 1, it’s all hands on deck to get the C3 repaired.

“Huge thanks to Ollie, Hayden and the Paddon RallySport crew for their massive effort. Also, thanks to Ben for doing a top job in and out of the car, my fiancé Gary for his support, and to all of my amazing sponsors – I’m incredibly grateful. This was not the start to the season we were hoping for, but we’ll regroup and come back fighting,” Emma vows.

Following the Canterbury Rally in June, the teams will take a mid-season break, before the championship moves to the North Island with another returning event, Rally Coromandel, to be held on August 23 from the seaside town of Whitianga. Next on the calendar is the Tauranga-based Rally Bay of Plenty on October 11, before the second two-day round of the season, the International Rally of Whangarei, to round out the season on November 7-9.