Defending series champions, Simon and Sue Evans, are on track to take their first heat win of 2010 in round three of the Australian Rally Championship, the Coffs Coast Rally, today.
The Evans’ went into the morning stages with an 8.9 second lead and have extended that lead to 41.2 seconds at the end of SS11 with four more stages to be completed in Heat One.
“It’s really tricky, that last long stage was really hard just trying to drive clean and smart. We don’t want anyone to close the gap but we don’t want to make a mistake so it’s really tough,” Simon Evans said. “
Despite the commanding lead the husband and wife team were just one of many crews who faced some difficulty out in the forest this morning.
“We got airborne coming into a corner on the first stage and carried too much speed and went off but luckily we were able to get back on the road. That was early in the stage and we tried not to focus on making up the time and just getting to the end of the stage,” Evans said.
The chasing crews were unable to capitalise on the Evans’ troubles all suffering issues of their own through the opening stages of the day.
Local driver Nathan Quinn and co-driver David Green are in second outright, battling with Ryan and Rebecca Smart and current series leaders Scott Pedder and Jon Mortimer for the position throughout the day.
“We lost a little bit of time trailing Raymo (Glen Raymond) when he had a problem in the first stage this morning which was unfortunate but we’re just out there trying to drive better and better and the car is going well so, so far so good,” Quinn said.
At the end of SS11 the Smarts are holding onto third outright but are battling their car as well as the crews on the road with gearbox issues causing them to make some adjustments out on the stages.
“Tyres are playing a big part of it and just to stay competitive you have to make the right choice. We’ve got a small gearbox issue as well at the moment which we’re going to have to deal with for the rest of the rally so hopefully the rest of it can stay together and we’ll get to the end,” Ryan Smart said.
Scott Pedder and Jon Mortimer, who came into the start of the days stages in third following a late penalty handed down last night, have also had a difficult day getting a puncture midway into the opening stage, as well as spinning out and leaving the road on several other stages.
“The car has a mysterious issue and we’re trying to figure out what’s wrong, but we had an overshoot as well in that last stage which caused as to drop some more time but we’re still in the fight for second if we can get the car right,” Pedder said.
– Credit: www.rally.co.au