Defending New Zealand Rally Championship winner David Holder had some Hayden Paddon factor spurring him to victory in the Drivesouth International Rally of Otago yesterday.
He was driving the factory-supported Hyundai i20 AP4+ that the WRC star decimated the field with last year and credited it with his win by 45.9sec over Auckland's Andrew Hawkeswood and Jeff Cress.
''To be honest, it felt pretty effortless. Everything about the car is faster and better and lighter [than the Mitsubishi Evo 8 he drove to his debut NZRC win last year],'' Tauranga's Holder said.
The top result surprised Holder, who had not had much pre-season testing time in the car.
''We were hopeful that we would touch the bottom of the podium,'' he said.
Hawkeswood copped a 50sec time penalty for being late to a stage on day one, after sustaining damage and stopping to make emergency repairs to his Mazda 2 AP4. Keen to make up that time on the second day's seven stages, his game plan was that ''we don't back off, we just keep going flat out'', he said.
For the first time in five years, an Otago driver was on the podium, with Balclutha's Rhys Gardner and co-driver Ally MacKay third in Gardner's first full-length event driving his recently purchased Mazda 2 AP4. He finished 2min.03.04 behind Holder and was ''pretty stoked'' to be spraying champagne at the finish line ceremony.
''It was a learning weekend so the result is a bonus,'' he said.
Gardner briefly led the 14-stage rally yesterday morning before Holder regained the lead in the day's second stage but gaining confidence with the new car was his main goal this weekend.
''I wasn't going to push it. If the win came, we were going to let it, rather than chasing it,'' Gardner said.
Christchurch-based MacKay had not been in the navigator's seat since he last co-drove Gardner to Allcomers category victory in 2012.
Dunedin's Emma Gilmour had a disappointing weekend after a gear selector part broke on the opening day's fourth stage, forcing her to retire then rejoin for the tarmac super special stage around Dunedin's Anzac Ave.
She won the first stage yesterday before an off-road excursion left her and co-driver Anthony McLoughlin out of the rally with a broken steering arm and sub-frame on Gilmour's Suzuki Swift Maxi.
Christchurch driver Deane Buist and Karl Celeste had a storming run to claim their second consecutive Allcomers category win by more than 3min over the runners-up, and finish 10th overall. He and his brother Brent built the Ford Escort Mk2 three seasons ago and Buist put its top performance down to his 30 years of rallying experience and his team, which has been with him ''forever''.
Rally spokesman Roger Oakley said the record 130 entries made for a ''memorable and outstanding event''.
''There's been lots of battles through the whole field and the top three place-getters in the NZRC were well deserved as they put in strong performances.''
He thanked the volunteers and helpers for their behind-the-scenes work which enabled the event to run smoothly and on time despite the ''extra pressure on organisers due to the sheer number of entries''.
