News - Rally of Melbourne 3

Team News from MRT

Aussie Duct Rally of Melbourne - Heat 2

Brett Middleton and Andrew Benefield completed Heat 2 (Sunday) of Round 6 of the Australian Rally Championship, the Aussie Duct Rally of Melbourne, in 18th place outright.

"The car went really well for us this weekend. We had a few small problems, but the team are working hard to fine tune the car, and this is now showing in our results. All day I was suffering from severe back pain, which made it hard to concentrate and drive well." comments Middleton.

From a strong finish (7th outright) in Day 1, MRT headed back out to the forest, aiming to build on their best ARC result yet in the Subaru Impreza.

"OFF The cuff"
SS1 - Mt Slide. MRT suffered from a flat tyre 2kms from the finish - the car hit a rut heavily on a tight left hand corner. The team only lost 10 seconds, as the car was able to complete the stage and change the tyre in the next service.

SS2 - Silvia Ck. The first two thirds of this stage saw MRT doing well. The last 1/3 of this stage was very quick, and not a favourite of Middleton. The team nearly lost a rear brake calliper - the mounting bolts came loose and the only thing stopping the calliper falling off was the wheel itself.

SS3 - Andresons Mill . Brett was suffering badly on this stage from back pain - still lingering from accidents in Rally of QLD and Rally of New South Wales.

SS4 - Keppel's. MRT was quick up the mountain, but slow coming down in the faster sections. "Every time I put my foot on the brake pedal it felt like someone put a knife in my back, which affect our times on downhill stages more than the downhill ones" added Middleton.

SS5 - Acheron Way. No spin this time round! Brett drove cautiously due to his sore back combined with slippery conditions, causing the team to lose significant time on this stage.

SS6 - Ben Cairn. MRT was clocked as one of the fastest teams in this stage coming in to the Don Road Spectator point. The stage features a very fast down hill bitumen section, which changes to gravel at the Don Rd spectator point. Actual speed hasn't been confirmed, but is in the vicinity of 165-170km/h. "The braking point on this corner is actually BEFORE you see the corner itself. If you wait till you see the spectator point you're going too slow, or if travelling fast you brake too late & run wide" explains Middleton.

SS7 - DeBortolli. This is the final stage of the event - another quick stage around the famous DeBortolli winery. Thousands of spectators lined the stage for some colourful driving demonstrations and quick stage times. Middleton opted for caution, focusing on finishing the rally rather than setting fast times.

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