Brendo amongst top five internationals

Brendo has finished in the top five of the Fiesta International Shootout in the UK against outstanding competition. 

Brendo was leading the 18 contestants after day one of the two day 'test', finishing on top after the physical, psychological and media tests, and had a nervous night ahead of day two's driving tests.

Faced with extremely icy and slippery conditions, contestants were to drive three runs of the 3.2 kilometre forestry course.  Road conditions were so dangerous that event organisers had grit added to the roads in order to try and break up the ice, and recce was delayed for an hour.

Brendo started cautiously on his first run, familiarising himself with the conditions, and on his second run, he improved his time by ten seconds.  Unfortunately, the young Victorian didn't get the opportunity to have a third run, as Elfyn Evans, whose car Brendo had leased and was sharing for the event, rolled the car on his second run, leaving him with no alternative but to miss his final drive.  The best two times counted towards the final result, putting Brendo at a disadvantage.

After the driving tests, the top five contenders were announced, and Brendo was included in this elite group.  He and the other four contenders were then interviewed by M-Sport boss, Malcolm Wilson, and former World Rally Champion, Marcus Gronholm, before Belgian Mathias Boon was announced as the lucky winner of a 12 month contract with M-Sport.

Brendo was stoked to be included in the top five and said the driving conditions were unbelievably difficult.  "I have never driven on anything like those roads before," he said.

"It would have been great to win, but I have learnt so much from the last two days and will take that away to build on for the future.  I've also met some great people - being interviewed by Malcolm Wilson and Marcus Gronholm is pretty unbelievable!"

The top five contenders were all under 24 years old, and Brendo was the only non-European, with the others coming from Belgium, UK, Turkey and Sweden.

CHECK OUT BRENDO'S PHOTO GALLERY FOR PHOTOS FROM THE TWO DAY COMPETITION