MINIs in Oz - Day 2

 

Nathan Quinn and his fellow Australian Glenn MacNeall are 9th overall at the end of day 2 of Rally Australia, an excellent result for Quinn who had never driven his Motorsport Italia MINI WRC before the event. Quinn explained "It has been a pretty awesome day for me out there, driving the stages I love in a car that just continues to blow my mind on every stage I do, I can guarantee you that I have had more fun out there today than anyone else at this event."

Tomorrow the Australian pair complete two runs through the gruelling 50 kilometre Nambucca stage. Stages of this length are both mentally and physically demanding and require complete focus from the crew. "Where we are sitting right now is a good place for us to be. If we can just sit tight and maintain our position then we will finish the day just as happy as today," says Quinn.

Alexander Gelvez has driven his MINI RRC conservatively to bring home a straight car to the Motorsport Italia team. As the Rally Team Venezuela driver explained "There is a big difference between a production car (like the Evo Alex usually drives) and the MINI RRC car and we are just very focused on keeping the car in a straight line. Each stage we improve so we will try to keep doing this."

 

Motorsport Italia Team Manager Bruno De Pianto was pleased with the performance of both his MINI drivers today: "Nathan's stage times today were very encouraging. We all knew that he had potential, but I was impressed with his positive attitude and competitive stage times. At the moment, there's a group of eight experienced WRC drivers sitting tight in front of him on the leader board, but the rally is long. With the 50km Nambucca stage run twice tomorrow, I wouldn't be surprised if we see things change up at bit. Alex also realises that today was a short day compared to the weighty itinerary tomorrow and practised a sensible strategy to make sure he brought his MINI home safely to service this evening."