Another Win Puts Evans And Honda In The History Books

SYDNEY – April 8, 2013: The Honda Jazz of Eli Evans and Glen Weston has entered rally history, taking eight wins from eight starts at the Quit Forest Rally in W.A.

“I’ve actually now equalled Possum Bourne’s [late New Zealand rally driver] record, which is a mighty achievement,” an excited Evans said. “We’ve still got a chance to beat that. We’ll be going into S.A looking for nine from nine with an 11 point lead at the end of this round.”

Honda Australia Director, Mr. Stephen Collins is thrilled with the outcome of the weekend. “Honda is so proud of Eli and Glen and the entire Evans Motorsport team. To have our Honda Jazz there in the history books is such an honour and it’s great to be able to share it with Evans Motorsport and our extended Honda family.”

The weekend was a mixed bag for the team, with Evans and Weston taking an early lead winning the Pedders Power Stage on Friday afternoon by less than a second. “Saturday morning we had a really good run, which set us up for the afternoon,” Evans said. “As the pace picked up, we had enough buffer to match our competitor’s times and they couldn’t really impact on our position. We won the day with about 45 seconds.”

Unfortunately, teammates Mark Pedder and Claire Ryan had to retire from the heat and eventually the entire rally, in the fourth stage on Saturday due to engine trouble.

“We hit a rock which I thought was a decent hit and just broke the steering but it was a little bit worse than that,” said Pedder. “We put a hole in the radiator and drove it a bit too far and cooked the engine.

“Although the boys got us out of the forest and were hoping to rejoin that day to get points for the heat, the engine was blown so we pulled the pin. It was very disappointing. We just wanted to have a consistent run and score some points however we didn’t get any this weekend.

“The next round is South Australia and I’m looking forward to getting back into the Jazz and actually driving!” Pedder said.

Heat Two was a see-saw battle between Evans and rival Scott Pedder. “On the third-last stage, we took 1.3 seconds from Scott so it was a dead-heat with two stages to go. Even if we finished second in Heat Two, we would have won the rally, but that wasn’t the aim. We wanted to get more points and decided to keep pushing as hard as we could.

“We came unstuck on the second-last stage and jagged a rock, resulting in a puncture of our front right tyre with two and a half kilometres to go.

“I found it hard to get into a rhythm on the last stage, as it was the first time over it. There were a couple of corners that had already been used in other stages, so some bits were loose and others were really grippy. We didn’t make any time up,” Evans said.

All in all, the team is happy with the win. “So we’re in the record book as equals, not by ourselves yet! Possum was my hero when I was a little kid. He was the best in the game and something I’ll always remember was watching him. For me to be considered in the record books with my name alongside his is special and something I’ll never forget. It’s also important for the team and of course for Honda to be in the record books,” Evans said.

Round three of the East Coast Bullbars ARC takes place in South Australia from the 24th to the 26th of May.