Campbell takes maiden NZRC round win
Phil Campbell & Venita Fabbro, winners of round five of the NZRC, the VINZ Gold Rush Rally of Coromandel. Photo: Euan Cameron
Phil Campbell’s debut season in a four-wheel drive car continues to go from strength to strength with the 27 year old recording his first round win in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship driven by VINZ, the VINZ Goldrush Rally Coromandel.
Campbell headed to the Whitianga based event full of confidence after taking his first outright rally win at the Tauranga Clubmans Rally, but a few set up changes took the car away from Campbell’s driving style and after two stages, he and co-driver Venita Fabbro were close to a minute off the pace.
After returning the set up to that used at Tauranga, Campbell immediately moved through the field and returned to service after a further two stages in third place.
For a change, luck was on the side of The Roofing Store Mitsubishi Evo 9 and when his opposition were faced with drama, Campbell pounced and when he returned to service with only one forestry stage and two passes of the super special to run, had turned a two minute deficit into a lead of almost 40 seconds.
With a comfortable margin, Campbell played the safe approach through the final three stages, netting the NZRC round win as well as second in Rally Xtreme and in the overall rally.
“It’s just amazing, really really hard to put into words. It’s a dream come true,” said Campbell. “After we struggled in the morning we certainly didn’t think we would record a result like this, but it was nice that luck was for once on our side and we have achieved the result.”
The Campbell Rallysport team now look forward to the final NZRC round, the Palmerston North-based Daybreaker, on September 27.
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