OzRacingWrap

The Sachs Rally Team has broken through for its maiden Australian Rally Championship (ARC) round victory, with the crew consisting of driver Steven Shepheard and navigator John McCarthy proving too strong at the Coffs Coast Rally.

Held in conjunction with the Australian round of the World Rally Championship, the team's Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X was one of the front runners throughout the event, which took in 270 kilometres of the toughest terrain competitors have ever experienced.

The first competitive full day of action started in pouring rain, with the fast and flowing roads becoming incredibly slippery, putting drivers, navigaors and mechanics to the ultimate test.

Starting the second 146km long day of competition in second position, the Sachs Rally Team crew played a conservative approach, which paid dividends when the leading team struck problems late in the day.

With only three of the 20 competitive stages remaining, Shepheard and McCarthy struck, with the pair drawing out an eventual 63 second advantage over the field.

For Shepheard, the victory is the realisation of a dream that commenced when he participated in his first ever rally some 14 years ago, following in the footsteps of his illustrious father George Shepheard, who won three ARC titles as a navigator for the Holden Dealer Team in the 1970s.

"My dad won his first ARC title the year I was born (1971), so it's taken nearly 40 years for the Shepheard name to be at the top of an ARC score sheet again, " Shepheard said.

"It's been a long wait, but we got there, and to achieve it with the help of my family team and navigator John, it's just awesome.

"The Sachs Rally Team Mitsubishi ran like a freight train all weekend long, I couldn't fault it.

"It was a very long event by ARC standards, and we really had to drive to the conditions, the wet weather on Friday was tough, but in the dry on Saturday it was really enjoyable."

In the Rallyschool.com.au Australian Junior Challenge Tom and Nerida Wilde from Nannup in Western Australia recovered from early problems on day one in their Subaru Impreza to take victory in the four wheel drive section  winning a funding support for an entry in the final round of the Bosch ARC in November. The two wheel drive section was won by Will Orders an Ryan Calder in a Nissan Silvia, the pair  winning a fully funded drive in an Unrestricted Rallyschool.com.au rally car at the final round.

The Sachs Rally Team now have two months to prepare for final ARC event of the season, Rally Victoria, which will be held in Warragul on November 11-12.