Perfect start to the season for Van Klink
Van Klink powers his way to victory in the BNT Classics. Photo: Euan Cameron
Kaiapoi’s Marcus van Klink has made the perfect start to his 2014 Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship driven by VINZ campaign after scoring a full haul of points at the opening round, Rally Whangarei, over the weekend.
After a season dogged by mechanical problems last year, a full rebuild over the off-season saw van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill confident of a strong result and after three stage wins from three prior to service, the pair had opened up a lead of 50 seconds in the Historic category.
A further five wins in five stages saw van Klink not only round out the day with a win in the Historic category but also move inside the top ten of the highly competitive overall category of the NZRC and also the fastest two-wheel drive car of the day.
With maximum points from day one, more of the same was the order for day two and again van Klink dominated in the Chesters Plumbing Supplies Mazda RX7 with six stage wins across the days six stages. On top of that, van Klink recorded a string of top-ten stage times across the day and again placed tenth outright for the leg, which placed him seventh overall for the weekend.
“Really we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season. We won every stage, got well inside the top ten overall and the car ran faultlessly,” said van Klink. “I really have to thank all the boys and now we’ll go to Otago and hopefully we can repeat the dose.”
With a perfect score under their belt and a 12 point lead, the Klink Rallysport team now head to Rally Otago, which doubles as both an NZRC round and the infamous Otago Classic Rally where opposition includes 1994 World Rally Champion Didier Auriol and Hyundai WRC driver Hayden Paddon.
Press Release by BB Media
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