Brilliant second for Brendan at Rally Spain

After a rally plagued by technical issues and accidents, Brendan Reeves and Rhianon Gelsomino have finished second overall in the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy (DDFT) at Rally Spain, round 12 of the 2015 World Rally Championship.

At the start of the final morning, Reeves was one of only three crews in DDFT not to have had a problem or made any major mistakes in the rally. He continued to keep pressure on Marius Aasen and Tom Cave, the rally leaders, as they were battling for the outright championship title.

As the battle heated up, Cave found himself in a ditch after braking too late and Reeves moved into second. Cave was able to get going again, but had lost over seven minutes to Reeves.

As the day progressed, Reeves swapped his front tyres to the rear so that he had fresh rubber, and also tried different ECU maps. After the first loop of stages, he started to claw back time on Aasen in first place, narrowing the gap further.

“The second loop of stages was probably the trickiest of the week as there was so much gravel on the tarmac and severe cuts, with the top WRC drivers getting punctures,” Reeves said.

On SS22, Reeves cut a corner and when the car bottomed out it lost some power and it took a few kilometres for it to return to full power. This ended up being the last stage of the rally as the final stage, SS23, which was also the Power Stage, was cancelled due to current World Champion, Sebastien Ogier, crashing his Volkswagen. His car was unable to be moved quickly enough to re-start the stage.

Crews, who were at the start line ready to go, were then turned around and sent back for a final 10 minute service before the podium ceremony. Aasen and his co-driver, Veronica Engan, were successful in winning the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy Championship by winning the rally, with Reeves coming in second, and Cave third overall.

However, Reeves had previously given up the right to score points in exchange for being considered to win a place in the ‘Vatanen Touch Shootout’ at the end of the year.

Thanks to his brilliant finish, he was given the ‘Wild Card’ for the Vatanen Touch Shootout. It is at the Shootout that Reeves hopes to prove his potential to DMACK Tyres and secure a drive in 2016 for one World Rally Championship event.

“It’s been amazing to compete at Rally Spain and the feeling is even sweeter with getting second place in DDFT. Now we need to see what we can work on for the future, but we certainly proved that we have great pace in the car and it would be great to get a program together for next year,” he said.

Reeves and Gelsomino want to thank their supporters, over 110 of them, for their support coming into this event. It has been a huge boost to the pair to have so many supporters behind them and to have the most sponsored car in the WRC.

Final Classification, Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy, Rally Spain

1. Marius Aasen / Veronica Engan 3hr 45min 36.2sec
2. Brendan Reeves / Rhianon Gelsomino 3hr 47min 15.5sec
3. Tom Cave / Craig Parry 3:54:29.7
4. Kevin van Deijne / Hein Verschuuren 4hr 00min 40.0sec
5. Max Vatanen / Jacques-Julien Renucci 4hr 06min 49.1sec

Visit our Photo Gallery for photos from Rally Spain.