Sam Murray (Palmerston North) has climbed to second place in the National Rally Championship after finishing second on Saturday’s Rally of Hawkes Bay.
With co-driver Rob Ryan, Murray was just 10.8 seconds behind Dean Sumner at the finish after launching a late rally charge for the lead in his Subaru Impreza WRX STI.
“It would’ve been good to be one place better,” said Murray, “but I’m pleased with the result. We’ve made a lot of progress with the car.”
Murray had been noticeably off the pace at the previous round at Wairarapa, but was much more competitive in the variable conditions on Saturday, which saw the first half of the event run over dry gravel stages north of Napier, while rain and much more slippery conditions greeted drivers in the afternoon.
Photo: Subaru New Zealand
Sumner had eked out a narrow lead in the middle stages of the event after Murray had been quickest on stage three. When they started the last stage, the margin was 18.6 seconds.
Murray managed to claw back some of Sumner’s lead. But not enough to change the result.
“We were a little slow on the first stage,” said Murray. “But the development we’ve done on the car is certainly headed in the right direction. I think we can go to the Rally of New Zealand at the end of the month with a lot more confidence.”
Emma Gilmour did not have such a happy time in her Impreza WRX STI. The Dunedin driver hit a rock and damaged the steering early in the fifth stage, Cricklewood Rd, south of Wairoa. The misaligned steering was so askew that a front tyre punctured towards the end of the stage. What looked like a fifth or sixth place finish became ninth by the time the cars returned to Napier.
The next round of New Zealand Rally Championsip, round five “Rally of New Zealand” (Round 11 of WRC) will be taken place from 31 August to 2 September.
