Wilde, Evans win at 2012 Rally Calder

Driving a Mitsubishi Evo X with Leigh Tierney navigating, Wilde clinched victory in the Four Wheel Drive Championship at Rally Calder, held at Melbourne's Calder Park Raceway, while Honda and its lead driver Eli Evans celebrated their maiden ARC round wins with victory in the Two Wheel Drive Championship.

FOUR WHEEL DRIVE Championship
Wilde's victory was a surprise evn for him, and only secured after winning the day's final stage. A small mistake and a spin on Friday's opening day of the 2012 Rally Calder saw Wilde slip to fourth overall, but then he was able to fight back to take second in heat two on Saturday and was able to pip Queensland Mitsubishi driver Steven Shepherd on Sunday's final stage for the victory.

"We didn't think we'd get the win all the way through the rally, even after the last stage we didn't know if we were on the podium or not," said Wilde.
"To find out that we won was the best feeling ever. It was a fun, but very technically challenging event, one error and your rally was over. That's why it was so much of a see-saw battle, if you had a bad stage and you'd be back to third or fourth and that made it exciting even more," he added.

Wilde also won the Rallyschool Australian Junior Rally Challenge, a talent quest for young drivers in 2011, and continues to show that he is a rising star of the future.

Shepherd's run to victory was abruptly halted by a broken driveshaft midway through the final stage. This dropped him to fourth overall and opened the door for Wilde's WA compatriot Nathan Box (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) to take an amazing second at his first ever attempt at a round of the Bosch ARC.

Behind them NSW Mitsubishi driver Michael Boaden snuck into third overall with a win in the final heat as well as victory in the 'power stage', scoring bonus points which bumped Shepherd off the podium.

TWO WHEEL DRIVE Championship
It was smiles all around in the Honda compound, with the Japanese manufacturer celebrating its first ever round win in the Bosch ARC after two years in the championship. Honda's lead driver Eli Evans was rewarded for his level-headed approach and his persistence over the past two years. Despite some close attention from South Australia's Jack Monkhouse, Evans led for virtually the entire weekend and won the round with a clean sweep of all three heats.

"A win in the Honda Jazz G2 is on its first outing is what we built the car to do," said Evans.
"We designed the car to win and that's what it's done - so that's a bit of weight off the shoulders."

Monkhouse settled for second ahead of young South Australian Mazda driver Nathan Busby. Mark Pedder, driving the second Honda works car fought back in heat three to take second for the day but a mechanical problem in heat two meant he narrowly missed making the podium.

In the Australian Classic Rally Challenge, pace setter Neal Bates continued his dominance in his newly completed 1980 Toyota Team Europe Celica, taking the round win ahead of Porsche driver Jeff David, while Dave Thompson in a Triumph TR8 rounded out the podium.

Three times Australian Rally Champion Cody Crocker took the honours in the inaugural Side by Side Rally Challenge ahead of Tamworth driver Iain Hughes and Sydney's Nathan Chivers. Polaris dominated, with all three placegetters piloting Polaris machines.

The final day of Rally Calder was marred by an enormous accident in the day's opening stage. Ivan Thompson lost control of his Aston Martin V8 Vantage and hurtled towards a concrete barrier at 160 km/h. The left side of the car was torn apart as he hit the wall at 33Gs. Thompson was able to get out of the car unassisted while co-driver Karl Francis escaped with just a dislocated knee - a credit to the safety of modern day rally cars.

The Bosch Australian Rally Championship resumes in just three weeks' time with the Quit Forest Rally of WA on March 31 - April 1.

Bosch Four Wheel Drive ARC
Overall round results

1 - Tom WILDE/Leigh TIERNEY
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X

2 - Nathan BOX/Ash RIDDEN
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

3 - Michael BOADEN/Helen CHEER
Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX

Bosch Two Wheel Drive ARC
Overall round results

1 - Eli EVANS/Greg WESTON
Honda Jazz

2 - Jack MONKHOUSE/Dale MOSCATT
Nissan Silvia S15

3 - Michael BUSBY/Steve FISHER
Mazda RX7

Australian Classic Rally Challenge
Overall round results

1 - Neal BATES/Coral TAYLOR
Toyota Celica RA40

2 - Jeff DAVID/Grant GEELAN
Porsche 911

3 - Dave THOMPSON/Matthew SANDERS
Triumph TR8