03/11/2026
2nd in the 2026 North Island Rally Series!
We started the final round at Battery Town Rally Bay of Plenty based in Whakatāne in 2nd place on the table, with an 8 point gap back to Gavin Feast. The goal for the day was to increase or maintain this points gap.
Gavin opened with a blistering time on SS1, and without an answer to that pace after the morning loop of stages the focus turned to maintaining the points gap. On SS5, Gavin got past William Menzies for 2nd in NIRS which put us behind him on overall points. We were back in 5th in NIRS, 0.4s behind Ben Huband and only 0.7s ahead of Julien Lenglet. Julien moved ahead on SS6 but Ben had to retire his car with a leaking fuel tank, which made our job slightly easier as we had a gap behind to the next car of Mitch Pilcher, although we still needed William to be ahead of Gavin which happened on SS6 as well.
We targeted the 39km Matahina stage to try claw back a few positions and it was going well with the splits showing we were on for a top 10 stage time. Unfortunately, our charge was interrupted when I tried to carry too much speed through a junction and bounced off the gravel berm on the outside of the corner.
This caused a bad knocking noise in the back, and we stopped in stage 1km later as I thought we had a puncture. Nathan got out of the car to find it was only the plastic sill guard that had been partially ripped off. By the time he was back in and belted up we lost approx. 40 seconds and any chance of pushing for a top 10 finish in the rally was gone.
We settled back into a rhythm after service and maintained our position over the final loop of stages, with the highlight being a good run through Stanley Road for an 8th fastest stage time to finish the day. We finished 5th NIRS, 3rd in Class G and secured the points we needed to win our class (on countback!) and achieve 2nd overall for the year. While we didn’t quite achieve the pace we wanted on the day, we enjoyed the Subaru battles with Gavin, Julien and Ben. We have learnt a lot this year and we are determined to step it up again next year.
Final result: 2nd in the 2026 NIRS by just 2 points! Congrats to Quentin Palmer on the title, and well driven Gavin for what ended up being a great battle all season right up until the final few stages. Huge thanks to our families, crew of Glynn, Scott, Brett and Garreth and our sponsors, we couldnt have done it without you. See you in 2027.
Subtech Subaru
DKJ Welding
Longveld
Crafted Signs
Hamilton Windscreens
Speedy L**e & Tyre
Six Star Transport
Pure Quality Construction
Triple Five Historic Motorsport
Paddon Racing Group
Custom Culture and Tuning
