Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour took her maiden rally win at yesterday’s third round of the New Zealand Rally Championship held in the Ashley and Okuku Forests north of Rangiora. The one-day Rally Canterbury continued its reputation of throwing surprises particularly with a high attrition rate.
Gilmour showed that she was quick all day winning three of the nine Special Stages and finishing runner up in five others. While she was clearly and consistently the fastest over the day, many of the other leading contenders fell by the way side, with over half the NZ Rally Championship field not finishing the event.
“I’m so excited and happy to finally have a win,” commented Gilmour, having competed for more than a dozen years. “It’s been a real team effort, it hasn’t been straight forward with changing road conditions throughout the day, but we always had the confidence, particularly heading into the final stage.”
Second home was Auckland’s Andrew Hawkeswood (Mazda2) with third going to Clint Cunningham (Mitsubishi Evo WRC). Current NZRC leader David Holder crashed out of stage six but continues to lead the overall points table from Gilmour, WRC driver Haydon Paddon who will not contend anymore 2016 NZ events, and Rangiora’s Marcus van Klink.
The first two stages held early on Sunday morning had a determining factor for the course of the day. Many competitors lost time negotiating one particular deep ford from recent rainfall. Rangiora’s Matt Summerfileld won the opening stage only to retire with engine problems in stage two. Also retiring was 2015 NZRC champion Ben Hunt (over heating) and Christchurch’s Richard Baddock who crashed out of stage two.
In the Historic class, Marcus van Klink (Mazda RX 7 Group B replica) made it three wins from three rounds while his two fellow Cantabrian rivals Jeff Judd and Tony Gosling both retired early. Judd managed to roll his vehicle within the first two kilometres of the opening stage.
Gilmour’s win follows a strong second place at Rally Whangarei at the end of April after missing out on a podium finish at her home event, Rally Otago. While Holder holds a slender championship lead, Gilmour has now shown she is a real title contender with three North Island rounds remaining.
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