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Evans claims fith straight win and moves closer to championship PDF Print E-mail
Monday, 17 September 2007
Caltex-backed Toyota driver Simon Evans secured his fifth win of the 2007 NEC Australian Rally Championship with a dominant performance at the Great Lakes Rally on the Central New South Wales Coast over the weekend.

The victory moves Evans and co-driver wife, Sue, within a few points of clinching back-to-back Australian Rally Championships. The Evans pair was joined on the podium in Forster by team-mates Neal Bates and Coral Taylor who charged home to second place aboard their Caltex-backed Toyota Corolla S2000.

With one round remaining in the championship, the NGK Rally of Melbourne, Evans holds an almost unbeatable 119 point lead over Bates in the chase for the championship. Evans can now only be beaten to the championship if he fails to score points in both heats at the final round and Bates wins both.

The one-two finish secured the Caltex-backed Toyota team’s second consecutive manufacturers title and ensured only Evans or Bates have a mathematical chance to win the driver’s crown.

The weekend wasn’t all smooth sailing for the Caltex-backed Toyota team, or many of the other competitors in the event for that matter, with the opening heat on Saturday stopped early due to safety concerns following a major communications failure.

After winning the shortened opening heat Evans made it ten heat wins in a row with victory in yesterday’s Heat Two.

"The plan for second heat was to stay near the front in the first two stages which hadn’t been run on before and then capitalise on the last five which were swept from running on them yesterday,” said Evans.

“We really stepped on it then because we knew we would have more grip and the times just came to us. The difference between the morning and afternoon stages shows just how much we were sweeping the roads being first on stage.

“It wasn't looking magnificent for us at times this weekend and it shows that Neal and I aren't ever going to give up or crack under pressure.

“It really ended up being the perfect weekend with the team winning the manufacturers' championship and with us almost securing the drivers' championship.

“We're getting closer, but we still have a job to do in Melbourne - I can't wait to get there."

Bates found himself in seventh place after two stages in yesterday’s heat but fought back with some impressive speed in the afternoon stages to narrowly clinch second place by 0.5s from Ford's Michael Guest.

"After our start to the final heat at no stage did I think we could end up second - but we continued to push hard and came away with a good result,” said Bates.

“We really have a bit of a problem with the new car on fresh and loose surfaces. The car was almost undriveable this morning on the unswept roads - the wheels were locking under brakes and spinning way too much under power.

“As soon as we got on the swept roads with grip it was a lot better - but loose roads are a real problem. I have a few theories on what we need to fix, but we'll be working pretty hard before the next round to sort it out.

“It's ended up an amazing weekend and I can't believe we wrapped up the manufacturers' championship with a round and a half to go - despite all of the development work we've had to do on the S2000 car."

The NEC Australian Rally Championship's final round, the NGK Rally of Melbourne, will be run on the weekend of November 10-11.

Great Lakes Rally

Heat One Results – Top Six
1) Simon Evans (Toyota Corolla Gp N (P)) 32:11.4
2) Eli Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N) +2.4
3) Steve Glenney (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N) +4.1
4) Spencer Lowndes (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO Gp N) +13.8
5) Neal Bates (Toyota Corolla S2000) +19.9
6) Dean Herridge (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N) +22.0

Heat Two Results – Top Six
1) Simon Evans (Toyota Corolla Gp N (P)) 52:07.4
2) Neal Bates (Toyota Corolla S2000) +58.8
3) Michael Guest (Ford Fiesta S2000) +1:01.3
4) Dean Herridge (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N) +1:01.3
5) Spencer Lowndes (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO Gp N) +1:09.0
6) Darren Windus (Ford Fiesta S2000) +1:25.1

Overall – Top Six
1) Simon Evans (Toyota Corolla Gp N (P))
! 2) Neal Bates (Toyota Corolla S2000)
3) Spencer Lowndes (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO Gp N)
4) Dean Herridge (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N)
5) Glen Raymond (Subaru Impreza WRX PRC)
6) Eli Evans (Subaru Impreza WRX Gp N)

NEC Australian Rally Championship.
Top Six after Round 5 of 6:
1) Simon Evans 403 points
2) Neal Bates 284
3) Dean Herridge 264
4) Brendan Reeves 182
5) Michael Guest 142
=5) Eli Evans 142
 
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