Reeves takes Heat 2 victory at Rally Australia

Mazda2 driver Brendan Reeves has put in a stunning performance on day 2 of Coates Hire Rally Australia taking the heat win from current series leader, Eli Evans (Honda Jazz). After 132 kilometres of competition today, the battle for the day’s honours was won by Reeves and his co-driver, Rhianon Smyth, after a brilliant day of driving south west of Coffs Harbour.

 

Reeves started the second day of full competition in second place and began in fine fashion, recording the fastest time on the morning’s opening test, the 49.9 kilometre ‘Nambucca’ stage. His time was one tenth of a second faster than Evans, but on the repeat of the stage this afternoon, Reeves increased his pace and finished 5.4 seconds clear of the current rally leader. Both runs of the day’s shortest stage, ‘Valla’, at 14.5 kilometres, were won by Evans but going into tonight’s two Super Special Stages, just 1.1 seconds separated the pair.

The 1.6 kilometre purpose-built track in the centre of Coffs Harbour produced the best from Reeves. He recorded the fastest time on the first run and backed it up with equal fastest on the second run, pipping Evans for the heat win by just over a second.

“Everything ran perfectly today,” Reeves said. “The RallySchool.com.au was faultless and we are rapt with today’s performance.

“Tyre wear was a big concern today as we covered a lot of distance but we were able to manage ours well and this helped our cause today.

“I can’t wait to get back out there again tomorrow and resume the battle with Eli.” Rally Australia resumes tomorrow with a further six stages totalling 125 kilometres, before the podium presentation will take place in Coffs Harbour.

Rally Australia is round five of the 2013 ECB Australian Rally Championship (ARC) and also round ten of the World Rally Championship.