Inkster makes a solid start to NZRC

13-04-2011

Team TransNet Extreme Evo9 kitted out for the night stages of Rally Otago

Team TransNet Extreme driver Glenn Inkster has made a solid start to the New Zealand Rally Championship, coming away with fifth place after the opening round, Rally Otago, over the weekend.

With the opening three stages of the first leg being run under the cover of darkness on Friday night, Inkster along with co-driver Glenn Goldring attacked early and despite backing off after a scare in stage three, ended the night in fifth place, only 3.5 seconds behind Chris West.

The following morning, Inkster was confident of running amongst the front runners, however a run of stage times towards the bottom of the top ten throughout the remainder of leg one left the Howick resident frustrated at his lack of pace.

"Saturday was a tough day," Inkster commented. "There was no reason why we should have been off the pace and it felt good, so it was incredibly frustrating."

To rub salt into the wound of an already trying day, a spin on the tarmac spectator stage left the crew with suspension damage to fix overnight, while Inkster was left to reflect on a less than satisfying seventh place.

Day two was everything that day one wasn't, with two of the first three stages resulting in top five stage times to sit fifth for the day, a position he maintained despite a spin onto a cattle grid on the fourth stage.

The final two stages of the rally saw further consolidation of his top five spot for the day and, with the strong run to the finish, secured fifth place in the NZRC points race.

Inkster now turns his attention to round two of the New Zealand Rally Championship, Rally New Zealand, based at Hampton Downs on May 7-8, a challenge Inkster is a looking forward to.