Rally driver wins first victory

Tauranga’s Phil Campbell won his first victory in the Group N two-wheel drive class after a near perfect performance at round two of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship.

Phil made a good start in the Trusthouse Racetech Rally Wairarapa.

Tauranga rally driver Phil Campbell at the Trusthouse Racetech Rally Wairarapa Phone: Photo: Jody Seabright.

with a class win of more than 30 seconds, however a puncture on the second stage meant the lead was reduced to half a second.

Recovering after service, Phil and co-driver Venita Fabbro won each of the remaining six special stages rounding out the opening day, including three bonus points for the final stage of the day, which was the event power stage.

By days end, the lead had grown to 57.2 seconds.

Day Two saw Campbell again setting the pace as he won the opening two stages and then recorded a second place to open up a lead for the day of 4.5 seconds.

The remainder of the day saw the 25-year-old swapping stage times with the identical Ford Fiesta of Josh Marston, but Phil held on to win the second day’s competition by 12.3 seconds, and with it the outright round.

The result gives Phil his first win in the three years he has contested the NZRC in the Letts Buildings Ford Fiesta, while he also climbed up to an impressive ninth place overall.

“I’m really stoked, we had a great run with only a couple of minor issues,” said Phil.

“Hopefully we can continue it and have a good battle with Josh and Ben Hunt at Otago.”

After a tough opening round, Phil has now moved into the equal lead of the Group N two-wheel drive class with three rounds remaining.