Following a second place finish at last month's Rally of Bay of Plenty, Mike Young and co-driver Amy Hudson were planning to go one better at New Zealand' s Rally Whangarei (8-10th Nov), the final of the 2024 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
The event started well for Young and with warm dry weather the team's Dunlop tyres worked well on the abrasive Northland roads. After several second fastest times Young and Hudson were in third place and poised to climb higher when an electrical fault stopped the car while touring back to Whangarei.
While the fault was quickly fixed , the team was handed a 10-minute time penalty dropping them to 5th overall.
Young fought back to 4th overall and got the gap down to 7.5 minutes, however a podium finish was out of reach.
"While it was a disappointing result, there are plenty of positives from the event including eight second fastest stage times and even a split time where we ahead of Haydon (Paddon). The Dunlop tyres worked well all weekend, the Yaris is perfect for these tight twisty Northland roads and we also won our class (ASN/AP4)", said Young at the finish.
With the rally season in New Zealand drawing to a close the team has begun preparations for 2025.
More news soon!
