After missing out on the Make Smoking History Forest Rally, James Dimmock has every intention of returning to the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) in July.
The Canberran had a slow start to the 2023 season when his new Toyota Yaris AP4 had engine issues at the Buckby ŠKODA Rally Launceston – ending his weekend prematurely.
Unfortunately, the repairs on the Yaris took longer than expected, forcing Dimmock to miss the trip to WA.
Instead of sitting idle, Dimmock opted to run in the Horizon Apartments Narooma Forest Rally, using his old Fiesta to tackle the seven-stage round of the Motorsport Australia NSW Rally Championship.
It was a solid return for Dimmock’s maiden appearance at Narooma as he finished 10th overall and second in class.
Despite not being able to get to WA, Dimmock was pleased to have a trouble-free run in his local event and get some valuable seat time.
“I was really looking forward to competing in the second round of the ARC over in Western Australia,” said Dimmock.
“It would have been my first time rallying on the famous gravel roads outside of Busselton, but unfortunately, the repairs required more work and took longer than initially expected.”
“However, it gave me the opportunity to get back to my roots and compete in a local club-level rally in the Ford Fiesta.”
“I was also looking forward to competing with Dad (Peter Dimmock) over the weekend, but unfortunately, he crashed his Datsun 240z just 4km into the opening stage.
“It was good to get back into the Ford for the weekend and compete in one of my local events,” Dimmock said.
“I’d never competed in a night stage before, and I know that there will be some coming up in future rounds of the ARC, so it was good to get used to the lights and the dust in the dark.”
With the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland not until mid-July and the Yaris repair almost complete, Dimmock was confident he would be back in action.
“Now that the engine is all but ready to put back in the Yaris, we’ll aim to get some testing in before Rally Queensland in July,” said Dimmock.
“I can’t thank my sponsors enough for their continued support, including jumping on board for Narooma over the weekend.”
Entries for the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland open on 9 June with the third round of the 2023 ARC season taking place in Gympie on 21-23 July.
