Ed Ordynski and co-driver Iain Stewart gave Mitsubishi Ralliart Australia a debut victory with its new Lancer Evolution VII on the opening round of the Australian Rally Championship, the Harbour City Rally (8-10 March).
The event, new to the series and based in Sydney, saw the duo take a total of 41 points from the two heats of the rally, establishing an early lead over Subaru rival Cody Crocker. In the Manufacturers’ Championship, Mitsubishi also has a clear advantage, notching up 66 points to Subaru’s 46.
Ordynski paid much credit to the crew at Ralliart Australia who have built the Lancer Evolution VII in little more than a month for the new-look national championship in which Production Cars have become the premier category. "The car has been very good straight out of the box and it’s a real credit to the Ralliart crew to have built and prepared the car in such a short space of time", he said. "This is a dream start to our championship campaign - we’ve just go to do the same 10 more times (in the remaining five events in the series)! The roads have been very very tough, ploughed up during the weekend - nightmarish in places".
The event kicked-off on Friday 8 March with a super-special stage in downtown Sydney, Japanese driver Osamu Yamaguchi claiming a narrow victory in his Lancer Evolution VI over the 1.1 kilometre asphalt stage. However, the first full leg of competition on Saturday - and the opening heat - took the 51 competing crews to the Watagan mountains north of Sydney for six stages and 120.70 competitive kilometres before returning to the city for a second run at the super special stage.
Newcastle-based Michael Guest, in a Ralliart Australia supported Evolution V, took an early lead in the forests before retiring when he went off the road in stage 4, Ordynski taking the lead with a chasing Cody Crocker and Possum Bourne second and third in their Subaru Imprezas. However, by the end of the leg, New Zealander Stuart Warren had powered his Lancer Evolution IV into second position ahead of Crocker, Possum Bourne forced into retirement with three punctures.
"It was a gamble to run the Evo VII; we could have taken the conservative route and stuck with the VI", said Ed Ordynski. "We learned a lot though and will develop the car further as we go on".
Sunday’s second heat returned to the Watagan mountains for four stages and 106.28 kilometres of competition and Ordynski set the pace on the opening stage, fastest in his Lancer despite a puncture. Victory on two of the remaining three stages saw the Adelaide driver take his second win of the weekend by a slim 10 seconds over second-placed Cody Crocker. In his first rally in 18 months, Michael Guest finished third on Sunday to score 14 points. Melbourne driver Spencer Lowndes, in the second Mitsubishi Ralliart Australia entered car (Evolution VI) had a tough weekend but finished eighth and 15th to score a total of four points over the weekend.
The second round of the Australian Rally Championship takes places in Busselton, Western Australia on 6 and 7 April.