Sean was the sixth different round winner in this years competition, which was won overall by Christchurch driver Dean Buist.
Sean won the first and last of the six special stages (SS) held on roads in the Hurunui District, — SS4 was cancelled due to high river levels.
He battled all day with the Mike Tall/ Matt Richards Mitsubishi Mirage of Christchurch, with the pair swapping the lead several times.
In the penultimate stage of the day, a short 5.14km stage, Tall had a slender 2.5 second lead.
Sean says he drove like an ‘‘absolute lunatic,‘‘ and went ‘‘like hell on the absolute limit and it paid off,’’ as he snatched back the lead, winning by just 1.2 seconds, despite losing bits of his car as he powered through the ford on Marshmans Road.
In an online, in-car video posted after the rally Haggarty is heard advising Bella to ‘‘Hang on’’ as he hit the ford at full speed. Sean said post race he was ‘‘absolutely delighted, I’ve done it with my daughter, and what more could you ask for?’’
Rangiora High School student Bella was her dad’s co-driver for the entire season, and despite being the youngest co-driver in the series, she won the Mainland series overall co-drivers' title.
‘‘I’ve got to say, Bella was outstanding today sitting in the co-driver’s seat.
‘‘She’s only 14 years-old and she never missed a corner. In the end, I’m just her chauffeur so she can gains as much experience as she can this season.’’
Bella is now continuing on as the co-driver of the triple zero course car for the rest of seven day long Silver Fern Rally which also started on Sunday and raced over the same special stages.
Following on from Saturday’s downpour, drivers had to contend with elevated river levels on the fords and slippery roads with SS4 Kaiwara Rd East being cancelled due to high river levels flooding the road.
Waikuku’s Robbie Stokes/Nicole Summerfield (Ford Escort) had been in contention for the lead but suffered gearbox issues on the SS3, while David Quantok/Emma Quantok (Skoda Fabia AP4) of Christchurch won three stages, but then also lost time in SS3 with a gearbox issue and eventually finished sixth overall.
Woodend’s Dave Ollis sadly suffered a mechanical failure on the final touring stage and was forced to retire. He says they may have sucked a bit of water into the air box while going through the ford at speed and lost oil pressure of the last drive back to the finish line.
