Gilmour itching to get back in the seat
Emma Gilmour
It has not been too long between rallies, but Emma Gilmour is eager to get back behind the wheel this weekend.
The Dunedin driver will take her Citroen C3 rally car to Rally South Canterbury tomorrow.
The one-day Timaru-based event is the New Zealand Rally Championship's second round and not too far from home for Gilmour, who is fresh from a successful testing day last weekend with the Paddon Rallysport team.
"The Otago Rally was only a month ago, but seat time is something all of us drivers crave," Gilmour said.
"It was great to be back in the C3 on Sunday for our short test near Alexandra.
"I'm keen to keep up the momentum from the season-opener and build on that with [Australian co-driver] Ben [Searcy] to push our fifth place finish at Otago up on to the podium in Timaru.
"I felt like I really got to grips with the C3 again at my home event in April and I'm keen to see what Ben and I can do on the South Canterbury roads."
The rally will be run over eight special stages, totalling about 148km of competitive action and 224km of touring. Rally fans can catch the teams at the ceremonial start from 5.30pm in the Mitre 10 Timaru carpark.
The first car starts from Timaru's Levels Raceway at 7.30am tomorrow, with the service parks based in Cave and Temuka.
The rally's completion back at Levels about 3.30pm will be an ideal place to see Gilmour and the other drivers in action.
The race circuit will double as the final stage of the event and the cars will complete four laps of the full track on rally tyres.
Following Rally South Canterbury, the competition moves further up the South Island to the Canterbury Rally in Christchurch on June 1.
After a mid-season break, teams will head to the North Island for another returning event, Rally Coromandel, to be held on August 23 from Whitianga.
The series then moves to the Tauranga-based Rally Bay of Plenty on October 11, before the second two-day round of the season, the International Rally of Whangarei, to finish the championship on November 7-9. — APL
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