Heading into the penultimate round of the MTA NSW Rally Championship, Glenn Brinkman was looking to consolidate his position at the top of standing.
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And consolidate he did, finishing with an overall time of one hour, 24 minutes and 52 seconds, with his navigator Harvey Smith, inside their Lancer Evo 9.
The duo finished 21 seconds ahead of JJ Hatton and Nathan Long in second, in their Lancer Evo 9.
They won three of their first four stages, however transmission issues saw Brinkman and Smith start the afternoon with a damaged gear box, failing to win any of the last three stages.
Regardless of the damaged gear box, the team managed to hold on for a win.
“I thought we’d lose a lot of time because it’s a third gear rally, but we managed it really good,” Brinkman said.
Jay-Jay Hatton was unhappy with his car’s performance, in the morning stages but by the midway stages, he was third.
He went on to win every stage in the afternoon to take heat two but he couldn’t make up the one minute deficit from Brinkman, settling for second outright.
Hatton’s navigator Nathan Long was happy with the drive on the day.
“We’ve been down on power today, so [Hatton] has actually been driving really, really well,” he said.
I thought we’d lose a lot of time because it’s a third gear rally, but we managed it really good.
- Glen Brinkman on his damaged gear box
“We were just lacking boost on the day and we’re not quite sure why that was.
“The first stage we struggled really hard with the car, but it’s made us drive neat, so we’ve had a really good drive today.”
In third came Tim Wilkins and Jim Gleeson, in a time of one hour 25 minutes and 46 seconds, in their Lancer Evo 7.
Brinkman won the first stage – Mount Horrible – ahead of Tim Wilkins and Tom Clarke.
It proved to be Clarke’s only stage finish, after failing to finish the next stage and not featuring in another.
Brinkman won stage two – Daylight 1 – ahead of Tim Wilkins, with JJ Hatton in third.
Those three – Brinkman, Wilkins and Hatton – went on to take the placings in the remaining five stages.
Hatton won the last five stages but thanks to Brinkman’s strong wins in the opening five stages, he was unable to catch the competition leader.
Brinkman’s 52 second lead after stage three – Bob’s Creek 1 – was a big enough buffer for him to hold onto.
Bathurst locals Ron and Lachlan Moore took fourth place overall, finishing in a time of 01:28:49.
Paul and Shaun Newman snagged fifth place, almost four and half minutes behind the Moore duo with a time of 01:33:16.
Steven Arthur and Blair Hallberg were sixth in a time of 01:34:29.
There’s still one round left in the championship and while Brinkman’s team has a strong lead, nothing is sure of at the moment.
The final round will be held in Cooma on October 20, where the 2018 champion will be crowned.