A solid
result from Ben Jagger inside the top 10 at Rally Wairarapa over the
weekend has moved the Whangarei driver up in the points standings but
he believes there is a lot more performance in the car which he hopes
to extract before his home event mid July.
"We didn't have a smooth rally and we had our share of close calls over
the weekend. On Sunday we pushed the car pretty hard but just couldn't
get the times out of it we were expecting." Jagger said.
"We couldn't get in the testing time we had planned before the rally
but with quite a bit of time between now and Rally Whangarei and no
problems needing to be fixed on the car we won't have any problem
getting that done and will be stronger for our home event." he said.
An upgrade to the gearbox on the SeedForce Subaru WRX Impreza between
Rally NZ and Rally Wairarapa had the car off the road and unavailable
for the planned testing before heading south. A test session conducted
prior to Rally Whangarei will consist largely of understanding and
determining how to utilise the complex Subaru electronic differential
network to produce the optimum performance from it.
"We will be setting up a session for us and Richard Mason in Northland
before the event so hope to get some good pointers from him on setting
up the Subaru." he said.
The Top 10 result from Rally Wairarapa pushes Jagger up into ninth
place on the championship ladder reversing a dip in the points tally
after his mechanical retirement at Rally NZ earlier this month.
Targetting a position within the top five by the end of the season
Jagger
believes the competitiveness has increased somewhat this year.
"I've noticed that the pace has lifted after Hayden Paddon's overseas
experience has pushed everybody to go much harder to keep up with him.
Even though there
aren't as many in the championship this year it is definitely more
difficult and the guys up the front are really going for it." he said.
Added to that is the new points structure which by offering bonus
points for completing legs of the rallies punishes the teams hard if
they are unable to finish for whatever reason.
With Rally New Zealand being a non-WRC event this year the
International Rally Whangarei will be the premier highlight of the
rally calendar this year.
"I can't wait for Rally Whangarei and we hope to be able to put on a
good show for our friends and supporters at our home event." said
Jagger.
The International Rally Whangarei will be held over the weekend of
15-17th July and will incorporate the fourth rounds of both the New
Zealand Rally Championship and FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
The three day rally will attract drivers and teams from countries such
as China, Japan, Great Britain, New Caledonia, India, Malaysia,
Australia and of course New Zealand. Two entries of particular note
come in the
form of World Rally Championship competition fame, Australian
Chris Atkinson and from the United Kingdom Alister McRae.
More information about this event can be found by visiting
www.benjagger.co.nz
or www.rallywhangarei.co.nz
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