Motorsports | Subaru Global

Event Bulletin
31 July 2006

Chris West has won his second consecutive round of the national rally championship, taking out the Hawkes Bay Rally by just 0.4 of a second over series leader Richard Mason.

West, the 2004 national champion, won the previous round at Whangarei at the start of the month in his Winger SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI. It is the second time this season the pair have been seperated by less than a second.

At the opening round of the championship at Dunedin in May, West was victorious by 0.2 of a second, although he later lost the points for that win due to a technical infringement.

"It was great to get the overall win here," said Westy. "After we mucked up the tyre choice for the first three stages yesterday I knew it would be hard work to get the time back."

Mason went into Sunday's second heat of the event with a 14.7 seconds advantage over West after winning Saturday's first heat.

West's efforts were not made any easier by the road conditions during the first three stages on Sunday. As the first two drivers through the stages Mason and West often had to sweep the loose gravel aside for the following cars.

"It's the first time it's really been a problem this year," said West, the former Timaruvian who now lives in Auckland.

After those first three stages, West had edged 5.2 seconds closer to Mason.

Then in the day's longest stage - 32 kms over the Maungaharuru Range north west of Napier, West was five seconds fastest, hitting 200 km/h on one long downhill straight according to the car's computer data recorder readout.

West claimed the overall lead for the weekend on what was supposed to be the penultimate stage, a slippery 23 kms through the Esk Forest where he was 4.9 seconds faster than Mason, giving him victory by a scant 0.4 of a second.

The final stage along the Ngaruroro River stop banks was cancelled as conditions were considered to be too dangerous after recent heavy rain.

Winning today's second heat was the first objective," said Westy. "After that taking the overall weekend was a nice bonus."

Given the closeness of the competition, Westy admitted to driving "pretty hard" all day. "I was a bit cautious on the first stage this morning," he said. "But after that we weren't holding back too much." Taihape's Brett Martin finished third, the first time this year Subaru drivers have not had a clean sweep of the podium.

Emma Gilmour was fourth for the weekend in another IMPREZA WRX STI despite a mal functioning centre differential which saw her spin several times during the day.

Palmerston North's Sam Murray has held onto second in the championship - now 74 points behind Mason - after not finishing heat two after a tree branch went through his radiator.

West's victory has seen him climb from eighth to fifth on the point's table.

SUBARU extended its advantage in the manufacturer's championship.