The International Battle Lines are Drawn
Nathan Quinn is up and running in this years rally QLD in the newly acquired Evolution 9 Lancer.
Currently sitting in 5th position in the Asia pacific section of the rally, more interest is being diverted to the Pirelli star point system.
New Zealand champ Haydon Paddon was thought to have qualified for the program at the last APRC round in New Caledonia, but just yesterday discovered that this was not the case. That means that now he, Nathan, Eli Evans and Brendan Reeves are fighting for the 2 spots for the prestigious series.
Nathan is currently 3rd as Eli Evans and Brendan Reeves are driving to the limit. Hayden Paddon has blow a rear diff but was already struggling to keep pace with the young Aussie contingent.
Nathan has had problems as well. Struggling to get used to the pace of the Evo 9 he is being consciously cautious on the high speed sections of the stages and taking no risks.
“It’s a two day rally” Nathan said. I’m driving at a pace that I know is safe and also won’t wreck the car. I’m not interested in setting blinding times and having to build a new car at the end. Brendan has already had trouble this morning so his APRC event is over”
“We are having a few brake problems” said Martin, team manager and Nathan’s dad. “the turbo anti lag setting are a lot more aggressive on this car and far more aggressive than he is used to and we just burned out a set of disks and pads in about 70km’s. he’s obviously not comfortable with the car pushing into the corners under its own power; it’s a bit like having a jammed throttle so he has to use the brakes more to slow it up”.
Overall the team are happy with the results given that there has been very little time to adapt to the new car.
New brakes have been fitted now and as the day progresses I’m sure we’ll pick up the pace “said Martin”
