Competing in their Nissan R35, they came into the third event of the AASA-sanctioned series second. Their Snowy River Sprint victory has lifted them to the points lead with one event to go.
Matthew Gibbens and Tim Jurd (Lotus Exige) finished second, 2:13.4 behind with Jonathan Moir and Brad Jones (Ford Escort Mk2) another 56.2 seconds away in third.
For the first time in the Australian Tarmac Rally came into the heart of Buchan for the annual event. It officially kicked off on Buchan’s main street, included midday lunch stops there, and the finish at the Buchan Caves Hotel.
The Sprint also travelled in and around the towns of Lakes Entrance and Orbost and delivered 260 competitive kilometres for the 45 entries across 18 stages. As unrestricted speed in tarmac rallying becomes increasingly rare, the ATR is one of the last places in Australia where drivers can experience it.
Day 1 consisted of 12 stages where the first stage was won by the points leaders coming into the even, Deal Lillie and Chris Exner in their Mazda RX7 and led at the end of three stages.
At the end of Stage 5, Lillie had a coolant issue and heating issue which meant he had to limp the car through the rest of the day’s stages to finish 17th. They then borrowed Allan Rumble’s Holden Commodore (with the blessing of officials) to continue in the event on Sunday.
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Stage 4 saw Wright lead and stayed there until Jeremy Dennison and Casey Rumble put a sting of stage victories together. The BMW M140i crew led from Stage 7 until the day’s last stage when they struck problems.
Wright led into the overnight break and throughout Day 2 despite Moir taking three of six stages. The Escort crew reduced the lead to 15.5 seconds before a ECU/throttle issue on the penultimate stage cost them four minutes and allowed Gibbons to grab second.
Fourth place went to Crichton Lewis/Anthony Carr (Subaru WRX STi) ahead of Llewellyn Cameron/Drew Hamilton (Toyota GR Yaris). Next were a pair of Mitsubishi Evo Xs in the hands of Justin Waterhouse/Adrian Bryant and Allan and Kerry Hines, Peter Rullo/Kelly Thomas (Lotus Exige Targa GT) and Dane Stones/Darragh Lynch (Escort).
The final Australian Tarmac Rally for 2025 will be the Great Tarmac Rally on October 25-26.
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