Hyundai One Two Secures 2007 Championship for Batten

Team Hyundai Rally with former Australian Rally Champion Geoff Portman at the helm of car one and Mick Gillett driving the second car finished 1st and 2nd respectively in the final round of the 2007 Rallydrive Hyundai Rally Challenge on Saturday December 8 in the George Derrick Memorial Rally in Victoria’s Gippsland region

Geoff Portman filled in for the team’s regular driver Paul Batten who was unable to compete due to illness. Paul could not be beaten in the series but needed second placed competitor Emma Cugley to finish no better then second.

‘Geoff competed in our Kangan Batman TAFE prepared car at the recent “Rally of Melbourne” and when I got the call that Paul was unable to compete, I thought who is the closest former Aussie champ? Geoff was the obvious choice as he only lives in the Yarra Valley, he had only driven the car a few weeks before and was the best option to give us not only the drivers title but secure the co drivers title for Craig Jones’, said Mick Gillett.

Mick Gillett and new co-driver Rachel Hale finished 59 seconds behind the Portman Superservice Menu’s Hyundai Excel and 1 minute 44 ahead of Emma Cugley and Jo Robison in the pink Excel. Gillett made the long track down from Sydney to compete on the weekend towing his Microcat Market supported Hyundai the 1000km to Rawson for a competitive rally distance of 62km.

The Team were impressed by the quality of the roads at the event organises had chosen. Bush fires had ravished the area in 2006 and floods in the middle of 2007 meant many of the traditional rally roads in the area were unusable. Most of the roads were fast and flowing and required commitment from the crews to get the best times.

The Hyundai One Make series is going from strength to strength throughout Australia with 9 crews tackling the Victoria’s last round of the 2007 series. The series will be represented in 5 states in 2008 with Western Australian rally competitors also starting to look at the phenomenon.

Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company Australia.

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