National Rally Champion in 2004, Chris West of Christchurch, is this year contesting the Vantage Aluminium Joinery NZ Rally Championship in a new car.
West will race a Ralliart-built Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9 owned by Andrew Simms Motorsport Ltd.The car was previously campaigned by Finnish driver Juho Hanninen, has only raced in two international events and won the Production World Rally Championship class at the 2008 Rally Japan.
Experienced co-driver Chris Cobham of Palmerston North will again sit alongside West throughout the 2010 campaign. "The emphasis this year is to win as many rallies [as possible] and ultimately win the championship," said West.
His team has been working hard to ensure they have the equipment, infrastructure and budget in place. "We have been fortunate with the sponsors we have had in the past but we have had to dig deep for additional support and to pull that off it's vital that we do our best," said West.
Andrew Simms Mitsubishi as well as the New Zealand Herald, Castrol, The Mad Butcher, Donnithorne Simms Mitsubishi, Yokohama Tyres and Adamson & Holland Ltd will help West's campaign.Major sponsor Andrew Simms is enthusiastic about the prospects for the 2010 New Zealand Rally Championship. "This year's Rally New Zealand will be an exciting and accessible spectacle which is great for the teams and also the sponsors.
"With a near new car that has already won international events, and with past New Zealand Rally Champion Chris driving for us, we are confident that we have a very fast and competitive package for this year's NZRC and Rally NZ," said Simms.
West and Cobham dominated the opening round of the New Zealand Rally Championship at Rally Otago until, with 3km to go in the final stage, a broken wheel robbed the team of victory. The first day was nearly faultless as West and Cobham won five out of eight of the day's stages to lead the rally by over a minute at the end of the day.
After a conservative start in the first stage of day two West and Cobham then went on to win the next two stages. A string of firsts and seconds in the next four stages meant that the team lined up at the final stage with a big lead of 1 minute 31 seconds.
However, fate would have the last say. Mid-stage it was apparent that a slow puncture was affecting the car's handling and just before the finish the tyre exploded, the wheel broke and the team found it impossible to finish the rally.
"We were absolutely gutted," said West, "The rally had run perfectly for us and we entered the final stage in total control with a plan to just bring the car home. The team took great heart from what remains a great performance in the first rally of the year."