Tasmanian star Steve Maguire will finally achieve his long-time goal of challenging for the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) outright title after acquiring a world class vehicle.
After campaigning the 2023 season in the Mainfix Production Cup behind the wheel of the Maguire Motorsport Mitsubishi Evo 9, Maguire will now tackle this year’s full ARC season in a Skoda Fabia Rally2 car.
In what has been a fast turn of events, Maguire managed to get the car from Peter Rullo, who purchased it earlier this year for the FIA World Rally Championship’s Rally Sweden in mid-February.
The talented Tasmanian has enjoyed his full season in Australia’s premier rally championship last year, and will follow in the footsteps of his brother Eddie, who ran a Skoda for the final four rounds of 2023 and finished third for the season.
Now geared up with a car capable of getting results, Maguire believed he was finally in a strong position for the ARC season.
“Over the past year, we have shown that we have the pace and quality to get good results, but have been let down by the machinery we are in, so I am stoked to get this car for the 2024 season,” Maguire said.
“That’s not to say we didn’t enjoy competing in the Evo or in the Production Cup – it helped us improve our skills and got us familiar with the championship.
“I feel that with the experience gained last season, and a decent car underneath us, we are now better prepared than ever to have a crack, so there are no excuses.
“With that said, I can’t expect to win the title in my first season – like Eddie, it will take some time getting used to. I’ll treat this year as a learning opportunity, but hopefully it will be a faster transition then my brother did as we will have his data to work off.
“All in all, I am so pumped to compete and can’t wait to get out to Canberra, so a big thank you to Peter for making it happen.”
This year’s Rally of Canberra kicks off the 2024 ARC season in the ACT on 5-7 April.
