Nathan Quinn and Ben Searcy took the CAMS Australian Rally Championship (ARC) and the first World Rally Championship (WRC) points for MRF Tyres at Kennards Hire Rally Australia.
The success follows on from Eli Evans and Glen Weston showing the potential of MRF Tyres throughout the ARC season.
It was the first points for MRF Tyres in the WRC with Quinn taking ninth outright at Kennards Hire Rally Australia.
It was an important weekend for the company battling against the world’s best and shone with on the intentional stage.
The emotion of the weekend was evident as Nathan Quinn, alongside Ben Searcy, crossed the line on international TV to take the CAMS Australian Rally Championship and MRF Tyres first points in WRC competition.
Vivek Ponnusamy CEO of Mentor Tyres/MRF Tyres said that the result was the result of much hard work and indicates the commitment that they have to rallying in Australia.
“You cannot imagine my excitement to be able to take WRC points – our tyres performed well across the rally and all the team here in Australia and in India should share this success.”
“We brought 750 tyres here this weekend and they performed as we expected. We learnt a lot from running in the WRC stages which will help us develop in the future.
“Our competitors benefited from our product this weekend. The tyre limit for each car is 26 tyres – the average for our competitors was 14!
“Can you believe that?
“I would like to congratulate Nathan Quinn and Ben Searcy on their amazing performance at Rally Australia and across the season.”
It was an emotional Nathan Quinn who crossed the flying finish of Wedding Bells II to become the Australian Champion.
“It is good. I’ve got no words at the moment. I have waited too long for this!” Quinn said.
“It was good, it was a great feeling.”
The MRF Tyres saw great wear rates over the weekend they beat the 50km of Namubucca while maintaining expected wear rates and grip levels.
The conditions turned to wet and slippery for Sunday and the MRF Tyres were able to cope with the conditions.
Multiple Australian Champion and MRF Ambassador, Eli Evans was happy with the tyres having run the new MRF hard tyre on Saturday alongside the MR2 medium which delivered the grip and durability needed.
“The MRF DM2 Tyre that I ran in the final stage was perfect. I was very happy with how they performed.
“I ran the medium on Argents Hill which was great for that stage.”
While it was tears of joy for Quinn, it was sadness for Molly Taylor who was also inline for the Australian Title.
“I must commiserate for Molly Taylor who lost the Australian Rally Championship with a mechanical problem – it is a tough loss to take,” said Ponnusamy.
“I now look forward to next year and taking MRF to the exciting six round Australian Rally Championship.”
MRF Tyres competed across the Australian, Queensland and New South Wales titles with many cars being cross entered into the WRC competition.
MRF/Mentor Tyres will be competing in Rally New Zealand and the Alpine Rally over the coming weekends.
(Photo: Aaron Wishart)
