MOTORSPORT: Quinny's return to rally…

For each of the last two years, Aussies have had a local to cheer for at the Coffs Harbour frontline of the World Rally Championship.

While last year the headlines were for established ace Chris Atkinson aboard a factory Hyundai i20 World Rally Car, it was in 2013 that the classic Aussie battler story was best told, when Coffs Coast kid Nathan Quinn mixed it with the best.

This year, we’ll have a couple of headline acts… but they won’t be in the premier category.

Instead, two local hot shoes will be competing for WRC2 honours at Rally Australia: Quinn and 2013 ARC champion Scott Pedder.

It was Quinn who captured our imaginations in 2013. One of this country’s quickest rally drivers when he pulls on the helmet, he secured a one-off deal to rally in a Rally Italia-prepped MINI Countryman JCW World Rally Car for his home event and stunned with his pace.

In 2013, despite having “not turned a wheel for 10 months”, the privateer MINI’s lack of development and Quinn’s complete lack of WRCar experience, his eighth position outright that year was quite extraordinary, especially in light of Atkinson’s struggles in 2014.

Although early in 2014 it looked as though Quinn would return to Rally Australia (“bigger and better”), a deal was not forthcoming and he was forced into an uncomfortable spectator role.

“Last year I spent some time showing people around at the rally and at one stage I turned to one of my regular service crew and said that I’d never spectate at Rally Australia ever again,” he explained.

“So I knew as far back as last September that I’d definitely be driving again this year. I was actually speaking to the team that we ran the MINI with back in 2013 about the possibility of another World Rally Car for this year. Unfortunately we just couldn’t make it happen.”

While that means Aussies won’t have a top category hero to cheer (unless you are counting Kiwi Hayden Paddon, who is good enough to adopt!), ‘Quinny’ has secured a WRC2 seat in which he will go head-to-head with Pedder.

Quinn will run a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX for the Motorsport Italia team “where we would help them score points to assist regular driver Max Rendina”.

This time, he has kept sharp by running in several state events. “I’ve won every event I’ve started. I expect that will see my driving fitness better than it was for my last attempt at Rally Australia,” Quinn told motoring.com.au. “And I also ran at round two of the Malaysian Rally Championship.”

For Quinn, it was important to keep the seat time up; as with the MINI in 2013, there’ll be little pre-event preparation.

“I don’t think I’ll be testing,” he explained. “[But] I will set the car up to what I know and use shakedown to get in the swing of things,” he says in typically laid-back fashion. Thankfully, he has strong experience of the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution from previous ARC outings.

Despite the ageing Group N-style Evo being well behind Pedder’s R5-specification Ford Fiesta for outright speed, Quinn doesn't back away from the local fight.

"It’s not a big entry in WRC2 but it is a quality entry. I have two aims; to help the team stay ahead of the Subaru of [Gianluca] Linari and to see if I can match Scott Pedder. Scott’s in a superior machine to us but I reckon there are some stages where I can be just as quick, if not quicker.”

Where does he think he can compete? “I want to capitalise on the new stages. Scott has probably rallied these roads as much as me, so I plan to attack the new sections as I have always performed well on first passes relative to other competitors.

“I love Newry Forest and I’m ‘frothing’ to get into Bucca… it’s like a toboggan at speed there, a real ball-tearer. I believe these stages are my strongest,” laughs Quinn.

Quinn will be joined by co-driver David Calder, a New Zealand national who is familiar to Quinn from their time in the Chinese National Championship in 2012.

“David’s a really great bloke and a terrific co-driver. It was just a great opportunity to get him over to compete at Rally Australia together,” explained Quinn.

Pedder himself is coming off a high, having clinched fourth place in WRC2 at Rally Finland, perhaps the largest jewel on the WRC calendar. He and co-driver Dale Moscatt are embarking on a five-event WRC2 program this season.

But it’s Quinn that will have the local numbers, especially if those memorable 2013 crowds are any indicator: “Being a local and having that support definitely gives you that extra air of confidence, plus it helps boost the support for the event.

“I know a lot more locals come out when they have that connection with someone who works in town or that they have a beer with down at the pub,” he concluded.