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Warren Luff has claimed victory in the Production 4WD class of the BFGoodrich Motorsport Australia Off Road Championship (AORC).
The Walkinshaw Performance driver sealed the title at the Black Diamond Drilling Kalgoorlie Desert Race alongside co-driver Anthony Ramunno in their Volkswagen Amarok W580X.
“It was an amazing weekend and result to walk away with the championship in our first year,” Luff told Speedcafe.com.
“It was a massive learning curve for both myself and everyone on the team because none of us had taken part in the Australian Off Road Championship before; it was a huge amount of fun.
“Massive thanks to everyone that has made this year possible, our team at Walkinshaw Performance have been amazing throughout the championship.”
While only needing to finish the event to seal the title, Luff described the feat as a massive challenge.
“For us it was about just trying to drive the car at a pace without obviously breaking it,” he explained.
“In any normal sort of circuit racing scenario where all you got to do is finish the weekend to wrap up the championship, it’s not that hard to do, but in the offroad world where the tracks are so brutal and anything can possibly happen, it was a massive challenge for us.
“We just wanted to get through the weekend and have a clean run, in most of these events you normally see about a 50 percent attrition rate across the field.
“It’s an incredibly tough sport.”
Taking part in the AORC has meant a lot to Luff, with the six-time Bathurst 1000 podium finisher running a decal on his helmet, in honour of former AORC competitors Gerry Hoekstra and Ede Taric, at the 2022 Repco Bathurst 1000.
“It has been a massive challenge and something I’ve definitely enjoyed,” he added.
“It was definitely a dream come true for myself and the team.
“Hopefully we get to come back in 2023.”
Beau Robinson/Jake Clucas took out the Kalgoorlie Desert Race by two minutes, with a second-place finish enough for Ryan Taylor/Kye Floyd to secure the 2022 title.
“I’m speechless, Taylor said.
“Thank you to Team Taylor, my whole family, supporting me all through the year.
“Thanks to dad, who got us into this.
“We finally got the #1, this is for him.”
Title contenders Jake and Kate Swinglehurst were unable to finish after engine issues midway through Section 3.
“I got word that he [Jake] had pulled over, he was stopped, so that was the longest 30km of my life, I heard every noise and every bump, it was just about getting home,” Taylor added.
