van Klink looks for more of the same at Timaru

Christchurch’s Marcus van Klink is looking to take his fourth victory to continue his unbeaten run in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship at this weekend’s Stadium Finance South Canterbury Rally.

This season has seen van Klink go from strength to strength in the Universal Plumbing Triple Rotor Mazda RX-8, including climbing as high as sixth overall at the recent Canterbury Rally despite the traction disadvantage of a two-wheel drive car.

The ultra-fast roads that the Timaru-based event is famous for is expected to suit van Klink and co-driver Dave Neill, who recorded the fastest top speed on six of the seven stages that made the second day of the season opening Otago rally.

Last season was the first time the event appeared on the NZRC calendar and it was a happy hunting ground for van Klink, recording a top ten overall result and first two-wheel drive car home.

“We’ve had a pretty much dream start to the championship really, there’s been some really good battles but it’s always nice to come out on top of them,” says van Klink. “This was a really good event for us last year and the car certainly works well on the fast roads that we’ll most certainly come across this weekend.”

The Stadium Finance South Canterbury Rally gets underway with a ceremonial start from Caroline Bay in Timaru on Friday night, with crews leaving outside the council office from 6:15am. Teams will take on 12 special stages totalling 196 kilometres before the finish at Levels Raceway from 3:30pm.

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