Whangarei
rally driver Ben Jagger gets his 2011 New Zealand Rally Championship
campaign underway when he joins the country's best rally drivers
heading south for this weekend's Rally Otago.
This will be the first of five national rallies over the season which
also includes a non-WRC Rally New Zealand, Rally Wairarapa,
International Rally Whangarei and Rally Nelson where the series will
wind up in September this year.
One year ago it was Jagger's first attempt at the four wheel drive
category after becoming 2WD Champion in 2009. He along with co-driver
Ben Hawkins drew attention to themselves by placing fifth overall at
Rally Otago after showing some impressive pace in their new SeedForce
Subaru Ipreza WRX.
Their campaign of last year was helped financially when Jagger was
awarded the Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Development Award.
A complete revamp of their rally car prior to this year's opening event
has Jagger feeling confident with improved performance expected for
this season and also a change over to Hankook tyres should aid the
team's pace.
"We've put a lot of work into the car during the off season and it's
feeling pretty good and I'm hoping for a repeat of when we were here
last year or even better." said Jagger.
Jagger goes up against the regular hardball players including current
champion Dean Sumner and past champions Richard Mason and Chris West.
Also back in the mix is of course last month's winner of Rally Portugal
in the Production World Championship Hayden Paddon who will be hard to
beat.
With a varied field of driver entered in different classes, also
included in the line up of drivers entering the Rally Otago in other
categories is Ben Jagger's uncle Brian Stokes who has jumped into an
Escort MKII for the event.
After starting his rallying career in 1976 he went on to become
national champion in both 1985 and 1988 and has been an inspiration for
Jagger who watched him on TV when he was a child. Nowadays his uncle
attends selected rallies to lend a hand on the spanners and give advice
where possible.
The DriveSouth Rally Otago takes place over three days with three
exciting night stages immediately following the official start on
Friday night at 7pm. The cars will roll over the start ramp complete
with their impressive lighting systems before they roar off to complete
the opening stages over approxiamately 50 kilometres of gravel road.
Saturday and Sunday return to daytime competition with six stages
apiece and include a 2.5 kilometre fastpaced and spectator friendly
dash around a tarmac course around Dunedin's industrial area to wind up
Saturday afternoon's competition.
"I can't wait to get going, we have had more seat time in the car than
we have had before so we're feeling quietly confident for the season.
We are still looking for sponsors and helpers for this year if anybody
is interested." says Jagger.
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