Suzuki Swift selection sees Gilmour finish fifth at Ashley Forest Rallysprint

Selecting the Suzuki Swift as her charger of choice, after making the top 16 in the Ashley Forest Rallysprint in two cars today, saw Emma Gilmour achieve an impressive fifth position overall.

The Dunedin rally driver had been doing double driving duties over the two-day event, switching between her Citroën C3 and the Suzuki Swift, which had been tuned to 350+ horsepower, to run in the Unlimited 4WD category.

“It’s been a really enjoyable weekend with both cars doing an amazing job. When I got to the top 16, I had to decide which car was going to count from then onwards. I could have continued with the Citroën and tried to win the rally class, as it had been competitive all weekend, but I decided on trying to get into the top 4 with the Suzuki.”

In the top 16 elimination run, Emma was thrilled to go under a minute for the first time in the Suzuki, clocking 59.33secs.

“Blazing back up and down the short, sharp 1.7km forestry sprint for the top 8 run, I went faster again, clocking 59.12secs, which gave me the fifth quickest time. I really wanted to get into the top four and just missed out but I had a heap of fun. Ashley Forest Rallysprint is such a wonderful event.

“Thanks to the Paddon Rallysport team for preparing both cars, especially Connor my mechanic, Amy from MITO and Mike for his tuning work on the Suzuki.”

Emma also extended a huge thank you to the RATEC Car Club and all the volunteers “who make this one of the best motorsport events on the calendar.”

“Weekends like this remind me how lucky we are to do motorsport in New Zealand, with so many passionate fans out there in the forest and following along online.”

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