Defending Australian Rally Champions Simon and Sue Evans to their first event win for 2008, taking out round four of the Championship in testing conditions around the Barossa Valley today.
Evans backed up Saturday’s heat one victory with second place in heat two, giving him 75 points for the event, five points ahead of younger brother Eli Evans who finished in second. Team TRD boss Neal Bates was in third on 64 points.
"That was a very hard win in really tough conditions” said a jubilant Evans as he stood atop the podium for the first time in 2008.
“The weather on those last few stages was just incredible. Eli did an amazing job in the wet, so congratulations to him.”
Eli Evans took Sunday’s heat by 6.9 seconds for only the second heat win in his career.
“We had to push hard over the last few stages as we knew Simon and Neal would be finishing fast” said Evans.
Eli won four stages today and overhauled his brother on the 22 kilometre ‘Floodways’ stage after both of the Team TRD Corollas spun in the same spot and lost precious time, after both leading at earlier stages of the day.
"The bad weather really set in during the final three stages, but to score first and third in weather like that is great for the team,” said current series leader Neal Bates.
”We took a great haul of points this weekend as well which consolidates our position in the Championship, so although we lost a little ground this afternoon when we spun, we will leave South Australia pretty happy."
Spencer Lowndes and Chris Randell finished a solid fourth outright, 39 seconds behind Bates and Taylor but a comfortable 2 min 4 sec ahead of Victorians Justin Dowell and Matt Lee.
After just missing out on a top-four finish in Heat 1, Raymond Partners Accountants’ Glen and Matt Raymond encountered gearbox troubles today, resulting in the pair coming ninth for the day and sixth overall for the event.
Excellent driving across the whole weekend saw Dennis and Jacque Dunlop take maximum points in the Premier League for the weekend ahead of Queensland’s Matt Van Tuinen and John McCarthy.
With two events remaining in the 2008 Championship, Simon Evans has moved back up to third in the ARC standings, 96 points behind Neal Bates and 49 behind Eli Evans. Spencer Lowndes moves down to fourth, while Michael Guest now sits in fifth after not registering any points for the weekend.
The Championship now takes a break for two months before heading down to Burnie for the fifth round; October’s Tasmanian Tarmac Challenge.
Australian Rally Championship - Rally SA
Overall Results:
1) Simon Evans Toyota Corolla S2000 (75 points)
2) Eli Evans Subaru Impreza WRX (70)
3) Neal Bates Toyota Corolla S2000 (64)
4) Spencer Lowndes Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (52)
5) Justin Dowel Mitsubishi Lancer EVO (42)
Australian Rally Championship Standings (after four rounds):
1) Neal Bates Toyota Corolla S2000 – (283 points)
2) Eli Evans Subaru Impreza WRX – (226)
3) Simon Evans Toyota Corolla S2000 – (187)
4) Spencer Lowndes Mitsubishi Lancer EVO – (184)
5) Michael Guest Subaru Impreza WRX – (123)
