Australian driver Neal Bates has won the Stadium Cars / Ssangyong International Classic Rally of Otago for the second year in succession, driving his Toyota Celica RA40 to a victory of nearly two minutes.

Despite nearly rolling his car on stage 10 of the 15 stage event, held
to the south of Dunedin, Bates and co-driver, Coral Taylor, were clearly
the class of the field, even beating New Zealand’s WRC star, Hayden
Paddon, who crashed out of the lead on day one.

Christchurch’s
Deane Buist drove a Ford Escort RS1800 into second place, one minute and
46 seconds behind Bates, while two-time Otago Rally winner, Gore’s
Derek Ayson, was third in his Nissan-powered Escort.

1994 World
Rally Champion, Didier Auriol, showed improved speed on the second day
after making a number of suspension changes to his borrowed Ford Escort
RS1800. The Frenchman won the final stage of the day, showing that he
was finally coming to grips with the car, and the event’s unique roads.

After
Paddon’s untimely crash on stage six, Bates took a 46 second lead into
the second day’s eight special stages and was never seriously challenged
for the win.

“We’ve had a brilliant event and the car has run perfectly throughout,” Bates said,

“We
had a lead of over a minute when we nearly put the car on its roof on
the first corner of stage 10, so I decided then it was probably time to
back off a bit and make sure we got to the finish.

“We just love this rally. The roads are simply incredible, the people are wonderful and we just love coming back.”

Buist’s
second place was impressive, given that he wasn’t entered in the event
until a week before the rally started. He moved up the order on day two
when first Regan Ross (Ford Escort) crashed out, and then Marcus van
Klink hit troubles in his Mazda RX7, dropping to sixth place.

“We
knew after the first stage that we didn’t have the speed to win, so
it’s pleasing to finish on the podium after a solid run,” Buist said.

Ayson
couldn’t match the pace of those in front and win his third Otago
Rally, but he did manage to hold off Auriol, a feat in itself.

“I was much happier with the car today,” said Auriol, the former Ford, Lancia and Toyota factory driver.

“I made a lot of changes to the car after the first day and it was much better today.

“Yesterday’s stages were very fast, but I enjoyed today’s roads much more and we increased our speed.”

Australian
Jeff David, who has finished second in this event before, overcame
early brake problems in his Porsche 911 to finish in sixth place.
Another
Aussie, Ed Mulligan, was eighth in his BMW 325i, just ahead of lady
driver, Deborah Kibble, in a Mitsubishi Lancer Turbo.

Major
retirements on the final day included Bert Murray (Mazda RX7) with
mechanical problems, and Ashton Wood’s Ford Escort RS1800.

Stadium Cars / Ssangyong International Classic Rally of Otago

Final results after Day 2

1.     Neal Bates / Coral Taylor (Australia), Toyota Celica, 2h34m48.9s
2.     Deane Buist / Andrew Bulman (NZ), Ford Escort RS1800, +1m46.9ss
3.     Derek Ayson / Lisa Hudson (NZ), Ford Escort, +3m00.6ss
4.     Didier Auriol / Denis Giraudet (France), Ford Escort RS1800, +3m34.4ss
5.     Jeff David / Grant Geelan (Australia), Porsche 911, +9m02.0s
6.     Marcus van Klink / Dave Neill (NZ), Mazda RX7, +12m17.5s