Ryan Smart blitzes ARC

Smart took victory in the Quit Forest Rally after winning both heats in his Toyota Corolla Sportivo in the forests around Nannup in South Western WA.

The 29 year old motor mechanic from Yandina tackled the second day of the rally with the same fast and aggressive style he displayed on day one, completing another flawless drive to win the heat by 29.1 seconds over Victorian Mitsubishi driver Mark Pedder.

It was the first rally to be run under the championship's new Unrestricted formula, with the leading turbo cars not running turbo restrictors with up to 400 horsepower.

Steven Shepheard led the heat after taking the first two tarmac stages around Busselton on Saturday evening but a turbocharger failure mid way through today's stages forced the Mitsubishi Evo 10 driver out of the rally, leaving Smart to battle Pedder and the Mitsubishi of Justin Dowell also from Victoria.

Smart was fastest on four of the ten stages today and was always in command in the dry and dusty forests around Nannup, 60 km inland from Busselton on the West Australian coast.

The victory for Smart, who was runner up in the 2010 Australian Championship, means he takes the series lead to his home rally in the Sunshine Coast Hinterland in a month's time.

"It was a bit nerve wracking into the last one but we did it," said an elated Smart.

"We're over the moon, it was a lot of hard work in the off season and we didn't know what to expect coming into this event.

"I was disappointed on Friday evening being off the pace but once we were in the forests we knew we had the goods, my new co-driver John Allen has kept me level headed all weekend and we're stoked at the win, it is really exciting and I am looking forward to Rally Queensland where we can really show some speed," he added.

"I am very confident heading to our home event, being familiar with the roads and terrain so we're very confident of a win and bagging some more championship points to extend our lead," said Smart.

Mark Pedder tried hard to match the pace of Smart but was unable to consistently take time from the Toyota driver in the dry and challenging forests.

Pedder had his own battles to fight, fending off the hard charging fellow Victorian, Mitsubishi driver Justin Dowell. Despite nursing an ailing gearbox all rally, Dowell managed to close to within three seconds of Pedder, crossing the finishing line 2.9 seconds behind in third.

Local WA Subaru driver Alex Stone brought his car home in a fine fourth place ahead of fellow West Australian Subaru WRX drivers Tom Wilde in fifth and Chris Anderson in sixth.

Wilde took the Rallyschool.com.au Junior Australian Rally Challenge for four wheel drive cars, while Victorian Will Orders took the two wheel drive honours in his Nissan Silvia, the pair qualifying for the Junior challenge shootout at Rally Australia in Coffs Harbour in September.

The rally took its toll, with eight cars forced out in the second heat, including the Shepheard Mitsubishi and the works Honda of Eli Evans that broke a drive shaft just three stages from home, while the local Subaru of Andrew McDonald exited with a spectacular rollover at a spectator point.

Stewart Reid comprehensively won the Classic section in his newly built Ford Escort RS1800, coming home 2 mins 27 secs in front of the Holden Commodore V8 of former Australian Rally Champion, Barry Lowe.

Round two of the five-round Bosch Australian Rally Championship will be the International Rally Of Queensland on May 13-15.