MRF continue to show speed at opening NZRC rounds

MRF continue to show speed at opening NZRC rounds

New Zealand importer of MRF Tyres, Palmside NZ Ltd, continue to be impressed by the speed shown and feedback coming from competitors running their tyres at the opening two rounds of the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship, the Otago Rally and the International Rally of Whangarei.

The Otago event saw Deane Buist’s own Palmside Ford Escort as the top MRF runner, not only the winner of the Allcomers rally but inside the top ten overall in a two-wheel drive car.

One of the drives of the rally at Otago came from Richie Chadwick, who was leading the class B class unitl a mechanical problem stopped him on the opening stage of day two. On his first run on MRF tyres, Chadwick was the top front-wheel drive car and knocking on the door of the top 30 outright in the field of more than 120 cars.

While the Holden Barina AP4+ of Josh Marston retired early, the split times coming from the vehicle were impressive, while Australian Grant Walker came home in seventh place in the classic rally running MRF tyres.

Three weeks later, teams headed to Whangarei and while Otago was largely dry, conditions in Whangarei were extremely wet with roads producing plenty of ruts and clay, enough to challenge even the most experienced driver.

Up the front of the field, it was a dominant 1-2 victory for the MRF Skoda team, the team largely un challenged en route to maximum points in the opening round of the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship despite the treacherous conditions.

Also keenly anticipated was the championship debut of Marcus van Klink’s Mazda RX-8. With 375hp at the wheels and only two-wheel drive, the wet conditions were never going to be his friend, but van Klink reported excellent traction from the MRF tyres.

Moving forward, Palmside are proud to team up with young up-and-coming star Max Tregilgas, who will run MRF tyres on his Ford Fiesta for the remainder of the season.

“We’re really excited to work with Max, he’s shown a lot of promise in his rookie season and we think he will only get quicker on the MRF tyres,” says Palmside NZ ltd’s Deane Buist.

“We’ve got another shipment arriving shortly that includes narrow 13 inch tyres, as we move into the winter months these might be the tyres to have for anyone running 13 inch wheels.”

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