Alister McRae co-driven by Gordon Noble driving a Jardine Lloyd Thompson supported Mitsubishi Evo 8 dominated the Zulu Rally which finished in Durban, South Africa this afternoon. The two day event offered 229 kms of special stages in the KwaZulu-Natal province.
The former British Rally Champion set fastest times on five of the twelve special stages. "It was a good fight against the S2000"s cars and unlucky for Serge Damseaux in the Toyota S2000 who was trying to make up time and went off the road on the penultimate stage, retiring from the rally. The event was well organised and the sun was shining. The S2000's were not as good as I thought they would be. Looking at how quick the car has been in the Italian Rally Championship I was expecting them to be quicker. I was going to test Serge's car on Monday morning, not sure if that will happen now but I certainly hope I get the opportunity to drive one of the 2000's before I head home. The roads have been very good they certainly make a driver work. The last 10kms of the last stage was cancelled which I am pleased about as the roads were very rough and it would have been easy to damage the cars. World Championship rallies are now sprint events and just because the rally is in Africa you don't need Safari type roads,"said Alister McRae after scoring his second international rally win of the year.
Neil Allport, former New Zealand Rally Champion who built and prepared the Mitsubishi Evo 8 which Alister drove was a very happy man after the stress of the days leading up to the rally. With a big smile on his face he recalled, ""The car was due to arrive in Durban on 11th May and when I arrived in the City on 18th May I was told that the boat from Auckland to Singapore had broken down. I was then given daily predicitions that the boat would arrive the following morning. The boat docked the Wednesday afternoon prior to the rally and we tested Alister's car two hours before scrutineering. Fortunately he was happy with the car.
I brought the Team from New Zealand and to win a rally in Africa with one of the most famous names in rallying will stay with us Kiwis for a long time."
Alister returns to China in July where he leads the Chinese Rally Championship.
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