van Klink aims for top two-wheel drive at Wairarapa
Marcus van Klink is aiming for another top result when round two of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally
Championship, powered by Brother, gets underway this weekend with Rally Wairarapa.
At the opening round, van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill were not only the top placed competitors in the historic
challenge, but also the top two-wheel drive competitor outright, the Mico Plumbing supplies Group B Mazda RX-7 holding
off the best competition in the Asia-Pacific region. That was despite a clutch failure on the final stage, which van
Klink says in hindsight meant they were very lucky to finish.
Now heading into Wairarapa, van Klink is looking for more of the same as he takes on the fast and technical roads so
typical of the region, something he says that makes the event one not to be missed.
The event also sees van Klink competing in the Malcolm Stewart Classic rally. Last year, the Kaiapoi resident was
holding down a lead of almost three and a half minutes after stage five when a broken axle forced him out of the event.
He re-joined for day two and took five minutes out of the next fastest car for the day.
“Basically we just want to be top two-wheel drive again,” says van Klink. “We were pretty lucky to get away with the
clutch failure at Whangarei, I don’t know how we got to the end but we did and there is no reason why we can’t get the
same result at Wairarapa.
When the event gets underway, van Klink will be 17th on the road and is the top seeded car in the Malcolm Stewart
Classic event. His toughest competition is likely to come from fellow NZRC competitor Duncan McCrostie, however van
Klink had more than enough pace to cover his fellow South Islander at the previous round.
After an autograph session on Friday night, Saturday sees the real action get underway with 129km of special stages
including Te Parae road, which will be the ‘power stage’ for the event. Day two sees a further 110km of special stages
before the finish at the Solway Park resort just after 3.30pm.
ends