Rising New Zealand rallying stars Zeal Jones and co-driver Bayden Thomson finished an impressive third last week on their Japanese rally debut in the first round of the Japanese Morizo Challenge Cup, the Mikawawan Rally.
Although the duo is still learning about their GR Yaris Morizo Challenge Cup Car and perfecting the setup, they felt there was more to come and are eager to perform even better at the second round in April.
“We were delighted with the result, but were also left with a feeling of what could have been as it was a steep learning curve,” explained Zeal on his return to New Zealand last week.
The crew got off to a flying start and were up to speed by the afternoon of the first day of the rally, which had 81 entries and a strong media presence. A minor mistake at the end of the first day missing a cone on a super special stage left them with a one minute penalty but this only served to fire the team up for Day 2.
That was when Jones showed his huge potential, grabbing two early stage wins and a second place to push the car up the order.
More frustration followed in the afternoon as they lost time in stages avoiding crashed cars and slowing for blocked stages – though in the case of the latter they were later given the time back by event stewards. It was enough, however, to cost them any realistic chance of second.
A third place finish was nonetheless a remarkable achievement on debut and left the crew optimistic about the remaining rounds of the championship.
“Competing on the tarmac for the first time and showing championship contending pace against drivers with over a year of experience with these cars and on the surface left us feeling very optimistic and taking it to the factory Toyota team TGR WRJ with the Cusco Racing car obviously felt good too!
“We’re happy with our performance and going forward we feel confident we can get ourselves into the fight for the championship.”
“The GR Yaris Morizo Challenge Cup Car is one of those rare machines that feels just right from the moment you get behind the wheel. It’s incredibly stable, easy to get to grips with, and gives you the confidence to push harder with every stage.”
The second round of the championship isn’t too far away – the Tour de Kyushu in Karastu gets underway in a on April 11th.
Header Image: Supplied
