Make sure you tune in to Channel Ten this Sunday April 19th at 2pm for Part 1 of the Quit Forest Rally coverage of the Australian Rally Championship where Mick and Bernie took home the round win in the 2015 Australian 4WD Rally Series.
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The official Australian Rally Championship website has spoken to Mick about his recent victory at the first round of the championship, the QUIT Forest Rally, they spoke about the switch from running your own car to driving a prepared car from someone else, as well as his focus for the rest of the year.
“It was an absolutely amazing weekend, I had a smile on my face from start to finish!” said an ecstatic Patton after claiming victory in the Australian 4WD category in Western Australia.
You can read the full interview here.
Be sure to check out our recent QUIT Forest Rally Gallery, as well as our Facebook page.
Check out action from the QUIT Forest Rally and the Repco Rally Team
QUIT Forest Rally – 2015 – Gallery
Mick and Bernie have taken honours in the Australian 4WD Rally series of the QUIT Forest Rally, the 1st Round of the Australian Rally Championship.
Mick won 2 of the 9 stages on offer in Heat 2 and consistently came in 2nd and third all day, their success is largely due to Micks regained confidence in the car and the ability to have a clean error/issue free event.
We asked Mick a few questions before the team packed up to leave Nannup.
Mick, How does it feel to win your first ARC round?
It feels amazing to win a round of the Australian 4wd rally series, and amazing to win in Western Australia where we haven’t had the best of luck in the last couple of years, in fact, I am quite speechless.
Coming in to the new year and in particular this round, what had you hoped to achieve for the event?
Our expectations were to come to WA and learn the car, the team and to have fun and smile again, like I mentioned the last two years we haven’t even made it past Heat 1.
How does winning a round with no issues and excursions, especially when so many teams around you had issues on the first day, affect your confidence and in particular coming in to the next round and your home event in Canberra?
It was great to have had zero issues during the event, the Race Torque team built and run an amazing car. I can take this going into the next round giving us a greater understanding of what to expect.
Is there anything that you can improve on or work on to make you go even quicker?
All we can do is keep getting seat time in the car, we have 6 weeks to review this event, work on our notes and see where we need to improve.
And thats a wrap, a huge congratulations to Mick and Bernie from their Media team, stay tuned to the RRT website for an interview with Bernie, full galleries from the event and a preview of the next round in the Championship, the National Capital Rally.
The Repco Rally Team has successfully completed Heat 1 of the QUIT Forest Rally, after a few less than favourable experiences in the previous years the team was excited to be moving in to the Sunday of competition.
The team currently sits in 2nd overall in the 4WD Classification of the ARC, just 16sec behind 1st place Markovic or WA.
We asked Mick how his day went in particular how he managed to keep a clean line when many teams around him were dropping like flies.
After a full day of competitive driving in the car how does it feel to be sitting in 2nd overall in the 4WD classification?
Coming 2nd is awesome, some bad luck to others but our times were really good.
Quite a few of your competitors were experiencing difficulties today did you have any problems?
No problems today, race torque guys were awesome.
How does it feel in the new car after a full day in the forest?
Really good, having the 2WD experience behind me has really helped.
You are only 16sec behind Markovic in the 4Wd section will you be pushing for the win tomorrow?
Heat 2 started well tonight finishing in 2nd behind Justin Dowell, tomorrow’s plan is todo the same as today, keep it clean and stay out of trouble, if we do that we will be extremely happy.
Quite a few competitors mentioned that Sunday was the more difficult heat, having driven the stages previously do you agree and if so why?
All stages are similar I find, slippery and fun.
With just 8 stages remaining tomorrow will be an exciting day, stay tuned to our website and facebook page for updates during the rally.
The Repco rally team began their assault on the ARC at the QUIT Forest Rally Power Stage this morning, in dry perfect conditions the team competed in the qualifying, the first time both in the car and in the car on Tarmac, the result was a gallant 1.57.80
We spoke with Mick about his first competitive stage in the car.
How was the first run in the car?
First gravel test was really good, the RaceTorque team have a lot of experience and its a pleasure to drive.
This was the first time on Tarmac in this car, did you feel comfortable?
Car feels really nice on Tarmac
WA hasn’t been the kindest event for the team of recent how do you think you will go on the slippery wa roads in a 4WD car?
Looking forward to have a great run in wa again. The roads here are great.
Are you feeling more confident coming in to this round in a 4Wd compared to the 2WD, even though you haven’t had much seat time?
Feeling a lot of convidence in the car
Who do you see as the ones to watch this weekend other than yourself?
The Evans battle will be good, JD and mark and any of the local boys.
The team then competed in the first of two SSS on the Busselton foreshore to kick of the event officially before heading in to the forests surrounding nannup tomorrow.
After the two runs the team is sitting in 2nd place in the 4WD classification of the ARC
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Source: Rally.com.au
Repco Rally Team Principal Mick Patton has recently revealed on rally.com.au that for the opening Round of the season, the Quit Forest Rally he will pilot a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X as he looks to maximize the amount of fun from his rallyingin 2015.
“Shipping a car and team to the first Round in Western Australia is always a large undertaking so when the option to drive a WA based car appeared it quickly became the obvious choice,” said Mick.
Mick and co-driver Bernie Webb will pilot the Evo X prepared by Perth based Race Torque Engineering, similar to that driven by Mark Pedder during last year’s Asia Pacific Rally Championship.
Patton said, “it would be exciting to drive the Mitsubishi in WA but it would also be his first time rallying that brand of car.”
Continue reading TEAM NEWS: The Repco Rally Team confirm 2015 ARC Campaign
