Brendan takes winning form into Quit Forest Rally

After a positive test session and a full day of recce on the dry and rocky west Australian roads, current ECB Australian Rally Championship (ARC) leaders, Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Gelsomino, are looking forward to starting the Quit Forest Rally tomorrow.

Based out of Busselton on the south west coast of Western Australian, the event is round two of the 2014 ARC and kicks off tomorrow (Friday) with the Armor All Power Stage, a 5 km shootout of the top six drivers. Brendan and Rhianon won the Power Stage at the opening round in Canberra in February and are looking to back up that performance with another win to get their rally off to the best possible start.

Brendan expects rough and rocky road conditions for the event and with many of the stages used more than once throughout the weekend, tyre preservation and avoiding punctures will be a major concern as the roads become more chopped up.

Unlike at most events in the ARC series, the Power Stage in Busselton will be run on tarmac on an almost-identical course to the Super Special Stage. The night-time street circuit is a highlight of the Quit Forest Rally but will create its own challenges for crews.

"We are allowed to use buffed gravel tyres for the tarmac stages rather than just our standard gravel tyres," Brendan said, "but getting a good balance of the car's set up will be tricky. During the day the tyres we use are likely to be hot and sticky, whereas at night they are much cooler with much less grip."

After a near-perfect performance at Canberra, Brendan said the RallySchool.com.au team had made only a few small set up changes to the rear end of the Mazda2 ahead of this weekend.

"We made some really positive steps with the set up in testing and are constantly finding more grip. The car felt great yesterday and I'm really looking forward to getting out there and resuming our battle with Scott (Pedder) and Dale (Moscatt, Renault Clio)."

The Quit Forest Rally kicks off tomorrow (Friday) at 9.45am (WA time) with the qualifying run of the Armor All Power Stage. The five fastest drivers and one wildcard will then compete in a shoot out for the Power Stage title and a bonus Championship point.

Heat 1 of the event starts on Friday night with two runs of the Super Special Stage in the centre of Busselton, followed by eight stages on Saturday.

On Saturday evening, Heat 2 kicks off with another two runs of the Super Special Stage, with a further eight stages run on Sunday before the winners are crowned.

Browse photos from the Quit Forest Rally in Brendan's photo gallery.

Follow Brendan's progress over the weekend on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and his website.