Rally class win for Gilmour at Ashley Forest Rallysprint

A last-minute decision to enter the Ashley Forest Rallysprint panned out successfully for Dunedin’s Emma Gilmour, who won the Rally 4WD Class in her debut drive at the iconic Canterbury event over the weekend.

After being offered some space aboard the Paddon Rallysport transporter after the recent Daybreaker Rally, her Vantage Windows & Doors WRC2 C3 rally car had a ride down from the North Island and Emma jumped at the chance to compete.

“It was great to have the opportunity to be there with the Paddon Rallysport team and I really enjoyed this fantastic event. I’ve always wanted to do it but never really had the car suitable for a short, sharp 1.7km hillclimb!”

“It was a good opportunity to get more seat time in the C3 and I really enjoyed seeing so many fans and spectators out on the course. The big screen with a live feed made for great audience involvement at what is a super cool fun event.”

Emma relished the challenge of bettering her times throughout the qualifying runs and steadily kept improving – with an ultimate goal in mind.

“I was determined to get under a minute. I just missed out with a 1:00.07 time on my top 16 run, so I needed to absolutely deliver on top 8 run to make it into the top 4. I blazed the C3 up through the course and back down to clock 59.10 seconds.”

“I was very happy to go under the magic 60-second mark and the added bonus was that time gave me the class win and fifth overall.”

The Bay of Plenty Rally is only two weeks away and Emma is pleased to have some extra competitive time under her belt.

“It will be great to jump back in the car with Malcolm [Read] again so soon after the Daybreaker Rally and keep building on the mileage we had together there.”

Emma Gilmour thanks the following sponsors for their support: Vantage Windows & Doors, Gilmour Motors Suzuki, Dura-Seal, Dayle ITM, MITO, Suzuki New Zealand, Castrol NZ, Sparco, Allport Motorsports, Custom Signs, NGK, Webdesign, Pure Sports Nutrition and Body Synergy Gym.