Mechanical issues end Brendo's Rally Queensland

Brendo and Rhianon have had a disappointing end to the International Rally of Queensland after a great start this morning. The pair were forced to retire from the event when the differential in their Subaru WRX STI broke half way through the day's third stage.

After sustaining a puncture on stage 6 of Saturday's Heat 1, the brother-sister duo started Heat 2 in fourth place in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship.  Their day started really well with the pair recording a second-fastest stage time on the day's opener and had moved up to third after the second stage of the day.  It was during the next stage, SS13, that disaster struck.  About half way through the stage, the diff broke and Brendo was forced to just cruise to the end of the stage and withdraw from the event.

Whilst disappointed with his forced retirement, Brendo was happy overall with the positives gained from the event.  He used softer compound tyres on Sunday's stages and was really happy with their performance.

Despite finishing their rally early, there was no time to sit back and relax for Brendo and Rhianon and their team.  The rally car had to be cleaned and then loaded into a container ready for shipping to New Caledonia this week for the next round of the APRC which will take place on August 28 and 29.

Check out photos of Brendo and Rhianon from Rally Queensland HERE