Motorsport: Old champ, new car - dynamite

Chris West. Photo / Supplied

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."

The team scored maximum points toward the NZRC title on day one of the rally and were right in the frame heading into Rally New Zealand last weekend. West finished second of the championship contenders in the gruelling event, which began on Friday and concluded on Sunday. West ran strongly throughout the three-day event, also a round of the World Rally Championship.

He made a great start to the rally, finishing second on the first day. Despite battling problems on the second day he finished third and the same on the final day to finish second overall in the Group N NZRC class. West also finished 15th overall and was the second Kiwi in a field that boasted the world's best rally drivers.

West made a conservative start to the rally on Friday but finished strongly. The following day proved frustrating as West lost the front diff early in the day, losing drive to the front wheels. They pressed on, posting some very impressive times despite their issues.

With repairs made to the front diff for the final day West successfully negotiated the four stages based in the Raglan area on Sunday to seal second place overall in Group N of the NZRC championship.

"It was a very tough, demanding weekend and we made what we could of it," said West. "It was an important result for our championship. We had our difficulties but we are a lot better off than some others."

West also found the transition to the Pirelli tyres mandated for this event a difficult one.

"The tyres were a lot to adjust to. When you're trying to adapt in the heat of competition it puts you behind the eight-ball," he said as he looks forward to being back on familiar tyres for the remainder of the championship.

At the end of the weekend West moved into third place in the NZRC championship and the next round of the championship is the Rally Of Whangarei, a round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, scheduled for the weekend of July 3-4.