Whangarei driver Ben Jagger suffered a cruel twist of fate when on the last special stage of the final round of the New Zealand Rally Championship the engine in his Subaru gave in denying him his first podium finish of the season.
"We knew we were in trouble when the cockpit was filling with smoke earlier on and we were having to keep topping the oil up between stages. We were nursing it but the engine just gave up in the end," Jagger said.
Jagger and co-driver Ben Hawkins started in eighth place on Sunday morning after a fairly solid first day of the rally. They were climbing up through the field of national contenders stage by stage but were surprised to find they had reached third position when told by a TV crew.
"We knew we were doing some good times but it was a TV crew who told us we had moved up to third place when they came to interview us at the end of one of the stages," Jagger said.
A third place would have been the pair's first podium finish since moving up into the four-wheel drive category last year after winning the two-wheel drive national title in 2009.
But motorsport can be a cruel game and Jagger's fruitful day turned sour just kilometres from the end.
However, 2011 has been a strong season for Jagger and Hawkins despite suffering two significant retirements, including the first at Rally NZ with a broken gearbox. A new points structure rewards finishing a rally and penalises harshly when you don't.
With a marked improvement on 2010 where they finished 15th, the pair can be happy with finishing in ninth place this year.
At the end of the 2010 season Jagger and Hawkins claimed victory at their home event, the Rally of the Far North, to cap off what was at times a very difficult debut season in their new SeedForce Subaru Impreza WRX. This October the pair will be back once again attempting to repeat their success in front of their local supporters.
"This year the car has been performing very well and we have been very happy with it. We'll have to do something about getting our engine sorted before Rally of the North so we can defend our title," Jagger said.
Richard Mason took overall honours in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship by claiming his third title. Emma Gilmour placed second ahead of Hayden Paddon, who was absent for two of the five national rounds as he competes in the WRC Production Championship which he currently leads.
Kerikeri's Kingsley Thompson placed 10th overall at Rally Hawkes Bay and entered just two rounds of the championship including Rally Whangarei, where he placed eighth overall and fifth in the national field.