It all came down to the final round to decide the Class D overall title for the 2026 North Island Rally Series championship for 2WD cars 2000cc and over. The ten week break between rounds four and five felt like it was taking forever, right up until we found a wee problem with the engine! As it turned out the extra time worked a treat and we were able to head to Whakatane with the car as good as it’s ever been.
To cut a long story short, it was a fine and extremely dusty day for the duration of the rally, particularly when the stages ran under a canopy formed by the trees as the dust had nowhere to go. We had an early vibration that turned out to be a slight imbalance with the driveshaft, this was duly fixed at the lunchtime service.
We went into Rally Bay of Plenty with a strategy and knew what we needed to do to take the Class D Championship. When we passed Dave Strong/Rob Scott parked up in SS5 with a mechanical issue, the title was ours even if we had issues of our own. The points difference was, at that point, unassailable. Irrespective we pushed on through to the end of the event and finally took one almighty collective sigh! Job done.
Massive shout out to our service crew and families who have backed us all year, it’s impossible to do this sport without a great team… just awesome. To everyone that’s got behind us and supported us in any way, shape, or form it really has been an incredible journey and we thank you for coming along for the ride. Legends every single one of you!!
The Lancer…. What a weapon!!! Arguably the best of its kind in Australasia, it’s hard to describe just how cool this car actually is and how much fun we’ve had since Tony took possession of it from Bruce Herbert. Big shoes to fill?? Ahhhh… that’s a definitive YES. Very easy to forget that Tony hasn’t been behind the wheel of a rally car for the better part of 28 years that’s for sure!
We’ll no doubt start hatching a plan for 2027 soon and will let you know what that plan looks like once we have one. We’ve got a mid-life crisis to keep happy ya know!! Just to finish off (for now anyway) we would like to recognize all of the series & individual event organisers, sponsors, and volunteers. Without these amazing people there is no rallying in this Country… it’s that simple! 2026 has been a blast – Thank you all so very much.
Photo courtesy of A Little Bit Sideways
