Ian Menzies and Robert McGowan are the 2018 Queensland Rally Champions, claiming the title at the fourth and final round, the SR Automotive Manumbar Rally.
Menzies and McGowan put in a flawless performance in their Bespoke Engineering Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, winning seven of the nine stages.
Plagued by fuel injection problems in previous QRC rounds, the Evo IX was at full pace and the team used their 20-plus years’ experience of competing in the Nanango and Manumbar area to their full advantage.
Starting in the township of Nanango, competitors were challenged over 150 competitive kilometres, the event using new roads and forestry areas before moving to Manumbar for the traditionally fast and long stages loved by event regulars.
Taking second outright was the experienced team of Ryan Smart and Hugh Reardon-Smith in their Datsun Stanza.
Struggling with brake issues near the end of the event, Smart and Reardon-Smith set two fastest stage times for the day and collected the fastest 2WD trophy.
In third was the Inspirations Paint Capalaba VW Polo S2000 of Marius Swart and Alan Stean, the solid result securing second outright in the 2018 P3 Solutions Queensland Rally Championship.
Steering their car into fourth place was Melinda Bergmann and Larisa Biggar in another inspiring drive in their RallyCars.com.au Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.
A small error early in stage two cost the ladies valuable time; they spent the rest of the rally trying to keep the gap back to fifth, with success. Bergmann and Biggar finished the 2018 P3 Solutions QRC in third outright, their highest placing to date.
Yeppoon based father and daughter team of Anthony Tanzer and Chloe Tanzer showed excellent speed and consistency coming away with fifth for the event.
Driving in their Tanzer’s Autocare Subaru WRX, Chloe Tanzer also achieved the highest place Junior Co-Driver award.
The Junior Driver award was won by Brayden Wilson in his AllJap Auto Parts Mitsubishi Mirage, with his brother Blake as co-driver.
The brothers finished the year both as winners of the 2018 P3 Solutions 2WD Championship, Junior Driver and Junior Co-Driver.
