31 May 2012
Holder Brothers Fly High at Otago Rally
Quickly developing a name for himself for being fast and spectacular, young Mount Maunganui based rally driver David
Holder flew high at the weekends Otago Rally by not only topping the time sheets, but also topping a fence along the
way.
Held as the third round of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC), powered by Brother, the
Otago Rally began with night stages on Friday night followed up with two full days of rallying. Setting some solid stage
times throughout the night Holder, partnered with his older brother James as co-driver, emerged with a 1min 25sec lead
in class over the very experienced and quick Tony McConachy, along with being 2nd fwd car overall, leading Fiesta driver
Phil Campbell by 25secs while trailing the other Fiesta driver ,Ben Hunt, by 47seconds.
With Saturday dawning bright the Holder Brothers set about doing their best in their little Toyota Levin on every stage
of the day.
“We were just focusing on getting every detail right, and making sure we are consistent on every corner. But man some of
those crests had us flying!” reckons David.
“Once we got up to full race speed we realized that we hadn’t correctly noted when the car would be jumping……we had a
few scary moments on stage 8……..but talk amount good fun!”
With massive grins on their face at the end of the stage the Brothers set the 8th fastest time overall and 2nd two wheel
drive overall, only beaten by reigning Production World Rally Champion Hayden Paddon.
Heading to the start of stage 9, Holder had grown his class lead to 1min 50sec and managed to claw back 21seconds from
Ben hunt throughout the day. However this was about to quickly change in stage 9.
“Yeh the little Toyota lifted off the ground around a fast left hander…we launched off the road and through a fence,
bouncing into a paddock. Gutted!” said David.
“Luckily the car was still looking pretty good….and the farmers gate was unlocked! So back on the road we went.”
After losing 3.20secmins in the paddock, the game planned changed for the team with the focus now on getting the Toyota
through to the finish to bag valuable championship points. And it paid off as well with both Fiesta drivers ending the
Sunday with accidents moving the Holder Brothers even further up the order.
“Dave and I both reckon that the jumps of Saturday along with the challenge of getting out of the paddock made for one
of the most fun days of rallying we have had! We took it quite a bit easier over the crests on Sunday to be fair, wasn’t
quite as exciting but it was the smart thing to do.”
The Holder Brothers Racing team ended up 2nd in Open Two Wheel Drive NZRC and 9th overall for the weekend with Tony
McConachy taking a well deserved class win after winning Sundays stages by 3sec from the Holders and not putting a wheel
wrong all weekend.
“We have learnt so much from this weekend.” states David “The biggest thing is really ensuring we have all the detail we
need in the notes, this is something we will get sorted for the next rally.”
The Brothers are extremely grateful to be given the opportunity to compete after new sponsor Stella Traffic came on
board provide financial support to get the Holder Brothers Racing team to the rally.
“Stella Traffic are the main reason we reason we were able to make it to Otago, but a big thanks has to go to Rob
Campbell for the loan of a service vehicle to get to the rally. We are extremely grateful to all of our supporters and
we are looking forward to getting another strong result for them at the upcoming Rally New Zealand round.”
Please follow Holder Brothers Racing at their web page, www.holderbrothersracing.com where in-car fence footage will be posted later this week.
Holder Brothers Racing would like to thank the following companies for their support:
Stella Traffic, Stadium Cars, Letts Buildings, Attentive Design, Mount Wheel Alignment and Service Center, Bay
Panelbeaters, Mount Repco, Speedy Signs, Mount EDL, Sew Hot Monograms, Kayne Barrie Motorsport, Monit Rally Computers
and also Rising Stars Scholarship supporters, Gull Fuel, Dunlop Tyres and Rally New Zealand.
ENDS