Justin Dowel and co-driver Matt Lee have taken out their first ARC Round win in the hills of Adelaide at Scouts Rally SA with a dominant drive in both heats of the 2 days of the event.
In their Mitsubishi EVO IX, the pair were in front of the field for nearly the whole weekend and have put the Victorian pair in the lead of the Bosch Australian Rally Championship.
Dowel was able to remain consistently on the road and sealed the round win from Michael Boaden and Helen Cheers in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX and Eli Evans and Glen Weston in the FWD Honda Civic Type R which benefits from the long stages in South Australia.
For Dowel however it was the culmination of two season journey which has seen the car and team with the speed to win rounds previously but not always having the reliability to make it through the gruelling two day events.
“The whole Activ RallySport team have been working very hard for this for the past four years, and the victory is as much for the team as it is for Matt and I,” Dowel said.
“We’ve had some ups and downs over the journey, but this weekend everything has come together and I’m rapt to be able to reward the guys with our first win.
“The car ran faultlessly this weekend and that allowed us to push hard when we needed to, and to ease our pace and consolidate our lead when required. I couldn’t be happier.”
“I think the victory will take a while to sink in, but it’s a relief to finally win a round of Australia’s premier rally championship,” Dowel added.
“The Activ RallySport team have well and truly earned this, and I’m sure that the celebrations will reflect this. However, we’ll soon have to start concentrating on the next round, which is the biggest rally on the calendar. We can’t wait!”
Co-driver Matt Lee paid tribute to Dowel, and to the Activ RallySport team, led by John Down.
“Justin has driven superbly this weekend, and Johnny and the boys kept the car in tip-top condition throughout what has always been a challenging event for us,” Lee said.
“It’s quite a feeling to stand on the top step of the podium at the end of an Australian Rally Championship round, and hopefully this sets us up for even bigger rewards as the season progresses even further.”
Championship leader, Ryan Smart, was forced to retire his Toyota Corolla in Heat 1 with differential failure, but managed third in Heat 2, while Mark Pedder took second in Heat 1, but retired with engine failure during Heat 2.
Pedder led the heat at the midday service break and with a superb drive was looking strong for the win, however it wasn't to be, the Mitsubishi engine failing at a critical time delivering Dowel his maiden ARC win.
NSW brother and sister team Michael Boaden and Helen Cheers drove superbly in their Mitsubishi to take second spot, the highest position the Wauchope siblings have ever gained on an ARC podium.
Boaden attacked hard over the closing stages to beat Ryan Smart for second bringing his Lancer Evo 9 home 41.3 secs behind Dowel and just 8.1 secs in front of Smart, the result bolstering his position in the championship heading to his home event at Coffs Harbour in September.
Smart had stepped up in his Toyota Corolla when Pedder dropped out after the young Queensland driver was forced out on the final stage of heat one on Saturday with a blown rear diff. However this was repaired overnight and the hard charging Smart had the Toyota in second over the closing stages of the heat. Then on the final test he was overtaken by the fast finishing Boaden.
The Toyota driver does however leave the SA round second in the championship on 187 points, just 21points behind Dowel with two rounds remaining, salvaging some points from what could have been a disastrous weekend.
Eli Evans Honda loved the fast open stages but was unable to match the pace of the four wheel drive turbos in front coming home fourth in Sunday's heat with some spirited driving in the Honda. The result coupled with his fifth place on Saturday meant Evans came away third overall for the round and is pleased with what was his first trouble free round this season.
The battle for the SARC was closely fought out all weekend with Matt Selley and Claire Ryan taking out the round in their Subaru Impreza WRX Sti from Sandy Nott and current SA Rally Champion Russell Marker in 2nd and 3rd place respectively. For Selley it was a remarkable achievement after not competing on a dirt surface since 2009 aside from his accident early in Rally SA 2010 and also competing with a broken shoulder.
For local competitor James Rodda it was a bittersweet event. Running in both the Junior Australian Rally Challenge, ARC and SARC Rodda was competing well until hitting the notorious railway crossing jump at Mantoo with some extra speed causing the oil cooler to break and catch fire. Despite the hard hit and stage being stopped, Rodda and co-driver Marcus Piristi were unhurt.
Stewart Reid took overall honours in the Classic division despite a number of problems on Sunday which saw him come home second on heat two behind the Datsun 240Z of Richard Galley and ahead of the Datsun 180B of Neville Whittenbury. Reid had taken his Escort to victory on day one ahead of Jeff David's Porsche however the rapid German car retired on Sunday with suspension problems after hitting a rock on the first stage of the heat.
The Rallyschool.com.au Junior Australian Rally Challenge saw young Victorian driver Rowan Wollard take the two wheel drive honours in his Datsun 1600 qualifying along with second placed Brendan Brown in a Datsun 180B and Matthew Amos in a Holden Ute for the final at Coffs Harbour in September. Local South Australian driver Sandy Nott in a Lancer Evo IV took honours in the four wheel drive category qualifying him for that category in the final at Coffs
The next round of the ARC is the World Rally Championship event, Rally Australia, based at Coffs Harbour on the NSW mid-north coast between September 8 and 11.
2011 Scouts Rally of South Australia – Heat 2 Results
1. Justin Dowel / Matt Lee, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 53m14.5s
2. Michael Boaden / Helen Cheers, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, +41.3s
3. Ryan Smart / John Allen, Toyota Corolla Sportivo, +49.4s
4. Eli Evans / Glen Weston, Honda Civic Type R, +1m27.8s
5. John Goasdoue / Martin Darch, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI, +3m42.5s
Bosch Australian Rally Championship pointscore (provisional) - After 3 of 6 rounds
1. Justin Dowel / Matt Lee, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 208 points
2. Ryan Smart / John Allen, Toyota Corolla Sportivo, 187 points
3. Mark Pedder / Leigh Tierney, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, 168 points
Video Highlights of Heat 2 of Scouts Rally SA - Courtesy of ARC
