MOTORSPORT: ARC mid-season update

Contrary to the results, the fight for supremacy in the 2013 Australian Rally Championship was fraught. Eli Evans and Glenn Weston may have won their second consecutive title with the factory Honda Jazz with nine out of 13 possible heat wins, but both Brendan Reeves (RallySchool Mazda2) and Scott Pedder (Swisse Renault Clio) showed great late-season pace, taking a heat win each at Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour.

With Honda withdrawing factory support at the end of 2013, Evans looked set to wheel his previous Honda Civic Type R out of retirement and into the fray, but a series of off-season build issues meant the champion arrived at Rally Canberra’s 2014 ARC opener aboard a Volkswagen Polo, leased from former ARC champion Justin Dowel.

Although Evans extracted good pace from the Polo, a couple of incidents saw him leave Rally Canberra with little to show. He has been unable to return to the ARC since, instead focusing on international events such as the recent European Rally Championship (ERC) round in Estonia, where he showed promising pace in a Civic R3.

Back on home soil, the Mazda team of Brendon Reeves and his co-driving sister, Rhianon Gelsomino, took their late-season 2013 form into the New Year, taking out both heats in Rally Canberra to take an early championship lead.

Speaking at the season’s half-way point, Reeves is philosophical: “Rally Canberra was a near-perfect start, but it seems like forever ago now. In coming back to those roads we were able to refine our notes from the previous year, giving me more confidence to push.

“Going into Canberra we felt we had both pace and reliability, and we proved it. It’s a great rally, we had good notes, the tyres worked well… it was a great start.”

With little opportunity for testing, Reeves says the team has focused on small gains to keep the pace required.

“We continue to make small gains, and have pulled a good amount of weight out of the car this year. We’ve used some aero tweaks and really worked on suspension set-up. The reliability of the driveline – an issue early last year – has enabled us to focus on these areas.”

They followed this up with first and second placings in the two heats of Quit Forest Rally in Western Australia; enough to make it two rounds from two.

Moving to the first endurance event of the year, Rally Queensland, the pairing looked to consolidate their lead, finishing second in both heats for second outright, behind Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt in the Renault. It was a mature drive from Reeves, who had his eye on the standings throughout.

“If you don’t run on the Sunday [in the endurance events, of which the International Rally of Queensland is one] you miss out on 40 extra points. So our strategy was to be consistent, but push where we felt safe, to keep the pressure on Scott,” he says.

RallySchool team principal Mick Ryan reiterated Reeves’ reliability mantra.

“The season has gone well. If you look back to last season, we’ve had good reliability for five events now, with only a charge wire breaking in WA.”

Ryan intimated that with a tight budget, the car’s development has been limited to maintenance, along with the “small gains” mentioned by Reeves.

“Without a big budget, we have made no development for outright speed this year,” he says, adding that the ARC points system should be reconsidered.

“It’s unfortunate the way the heat system is calculated,” he explains. “Doing every stage in every event is not always rewarded. Look at the results in Western Australia, for example, where Pedder’s Renault missed a section of the second heat yet managed to come away with second overall for the weekend.”

Reeves and Gelsomino head into Scouts Rally SA, held over August 1-3, with a 16-point lead over Pedder and Moscatt.

The Walkinshaw Performance Renault Clio crew has had an up and down season, often topping the stage times, but it wasn’t until Rally Queensland that everything gelled for an entire event.

“We’ve generally had a pretty strong and positive season so far,” explains Scott Pedder. “The high for sure was the win in Queensland. We completely dominated the rally and even managed second in the APRC [Asian Pacific Rally Championship].

"Breaking the clutch on the exit of the last service in Western Australia and then getting to the start of the last stage and breaking the starter motor was not only the low point of the year but probably my last 20 years! We dominated that rally also so it was a tough break.”

To regular observers it is obvious that the move to Walkinshaw Performance preparation has given Pedder and Moscatt the opportunity to develop the Clio.

At Queensland, for example, another Clio R3, driven by former teammate Tom Wilde – a young gun who wasn’t far off Pedder in 2013 – in the APRC, was significantly off the ARC Clio’s pace-per-kilometre.

“We’re extremely pleased with the way the team is getting along and the knock-on effect that has had on the stages this year. While we’re not leading the championship, we’ve won the majority of stages this year and shown that we’ve really gelled as a company with Scott and Dale. I’m looking forward to the back half of the season,” Walkinshaw Performance General Manager Tony Harris told motoring.com.au.

When asked to identify the car’s key 2014 improvements, Pedder joked: “It’s probably better to say where the car hasn’t got better! The biggest change in the car has just been attention to detail and the ability to utilise the resources and smarts from within. Rob Davis and Gav Mosher have been the driving force behind these improvements. In order of big steps forward probably braking, engine power and response, suspension and traction.”

On his relationship with Dale Moscatt, Pedder is reflective: “We are both very critical of our performances and have an open and honest approach. I over-drove the car last year but I think the way to drive front-wheel drive fast is starting to click with me. Dale is a total professional in every way and we are extremely lucky to have him. Certainly he provides me an unprecedented level of calmness and confidence in the car.”

Looking to the second half, Pedder’s strategic summation is simple: “We want to win the next three rallies.”

Putting his ARC director’s hat on, Pedder is positive yet measured. Although Citroen has fielded a two-car factory-supported team for Adrian Coppin and Tony Sullens (who generally fight for ‘best of the rest’ recognition after Reeves and Pedder), the hole left by Honda’s departure has been difficult to replace.

“We’ve had a consistent year in terms of recognition and exposure. TV continues to be strong and we are making significant impacts through social media. But we need to better sell the product internally, preaching the benefits of the ARC to our own, and why they should become involved.

"The next five years will be interesting, with many national and regional championships struggling for participation, manufacturer interest and commercial support. Certainly the ARC is at its strongest point ever in terms of commercial interest and support, but we need to continually evolve and look for opportunities.”

After South Australia, the teams head to Coffs Harbour for the second and final endurance event of the season. The ARC will support Rally Australia, round 10 of the 13-round World Rally Championship over September 11-14.

The ARC finale is Rally Victoria, held over November 14-15. A first-time ARC champion will be crowned, but who will it be?

Images: www.rally.com.au and Nigel Reynard