Brendan confident ahead of Scouts Rally SA

Fresh from his dominant 2WD win in the United States earlier this month, Victorian Brendan Reeves will this weekend contest Round 3 of the Australian Rally Championship (ARC), the Scouts Rally South Australia.

Brendan and his co-driving sister, Rhianon Smyth, have returned from the US full of confidence after winning their class at the Oregon Trail Rally by over three minutes and finishing an impressive fifth outright. With some recent changes made to Reeves' ARC mount, the RallySchool.com.au Mazda2, he is looking forward to returning to one of his favourite events.

"We've put quite a bit of development into the car for this rally," Brendan said, "and we've made some really good steps forward. The extra time between now and the last event (QUIT Forest Rally) has allowed us time to work on some areas that we've been wanting to address since Round 1."

"The event in the US was a great test for us and just having that extra time in a rally car was fantastic. I'm really looking forward to getting back in the Mazda2 and giving it my best shot this weekend."

 Brendan and Rhianon will test the Mazda2 on Wednesday morning before doing their reconnaissance on Thursday.

Scouts Rally SA kicks off on Friday morning with Qualifying, where drivers are able to test their cars at speed over a designated course. The five drivers who record the fastest times in Qualifying are then invited to contest the Power Stage, a re-run of the Qualifying stage, with the fastest driver earning five bonus Championship points.

The rally's opening stages, the Super Special Stages at Gawler, will be held on Friday evening with two runs around the half-tarmac, half-gravel track before the rally proper gets underway on Saturday morning.

Over the course of the weekend crews will contest 18 stages covering a competitive distance of around 220 kilometres.

The event will be based out of Mt Pleasant, north east of Adelaide. Scouts Rally SA's stages are typically very fast but heavy rain forecast for this week could make the conditions very slippery and difficult for drivers, a challenge Brendan is looking forward to.

After finishing the first two rounds of the Championship in 11th and fourth places respectively, Brendan sits sixth overall and is hoping to claw back some ground on the Series leaders this weekend. Punctures, brake problems and hitting a rock on a blind corner have all impeded Brendan’s results so far but he has impressed with his speed in the Mazda2 and given a trouble-free run, should be at the pointy end of the field come Sunday afternoon.

"Testing went really well today," Brendan said. "We tried out a new suspension setting from MCA Suspension and that worked really well. The car feels great and I'm really looking forward to the rally getting underway."

ECB Australian Rally Championship calendar 2013

Round 1, National Capital Rally, Canberra, March 1 - 3
Round 2, QUIT Forest Rally, Busselton, April 5 - 7
Round 3, Scouts Rally South Australia, Gawler, May 24 - 26
Round 4, International Rally Queensland, Caloundra, July 12 - 14
Round 5, Coates Hire Rally Australia, Coffs Harbour, September 12 - 15
Round 6, Rally Victoria, Warragul, November 15 - 16

ARC Pointscore after Round 2

1. Eli Evans, Honda Jazz, 157 points
2. Scott Pedder, Renault clio, 146
3. Tom Wilde, Renault Clio, 106
4. Jack Monkhouse, Nissan Silvia, 93
5. Michael Boaden, VW Polo, 68
6. Brendan Reeves, Mazda2, 64

Photo by Nigel Raynard