Mike Young and Amy Hudson are back on the entry list for Rally New Zealand after finding a replacement car ahead of the event next weekend.
Velocity News reported on Thursday that Young’s Cusco Racing Toyota C-HR was held up in transit and unable to make it here in time ahead of the event. To further compound matters, the container the car was in was at the bottom of the ship meaning it would be one of the last to be unloaded.
The racing gods have had their say, Jeff Judd and the team at Magnum Motorsport New Zealand lending the Kiwi one of their Subaru H6’s and prepping it at short notice.
“It all happened very quickly,” Young said in a post shared with Velocity News.
“Jeff messaged me at 11am last Thursday and after a quick conversation with our local sponsor (Seeka) they left us in no doubt we should continue.
“Would you come back on board (we asked) and their reply of ‘of course we never left!'”
The team at Magnum Motorsport quickly went about putting in a new gearbox, clutch, brake pads and checked the Cusco LSD’s to have the car ready for transport to Auckland.
“With the car now sorted the next big question was how do we get (the car) from Christchurch to the North Island ASAP, especially when Cook Straight ferry bookings need to be made weeks in advance,” said Young.
“The team at Rally New Zealand solved that issue, arranging space on a car transporter that left Christchurch on Friday afternoon.”
Whilst the temporary car solved one of the main issues, there was still the problem of a lack of spares and equipment needed for competition.
Specialized Auto Services came to the rescue on that one, gathering everything required before sending it to the North Island on Tuesday with Young’s Uncle Ross and Linda in the back of their ute.
“As you can see so many people have pitched in and rallied around us to get back in the event,” says Young.
“(This includes) our faithful sponsors Cusco, Dunlop, Go Logistics, Seeka, SAS, Wurth and Pacific Toyota.
“Now we need to do our job.”
Rally New Zealand begins at Auckland Domain on Thursday with the Shakedown and opening ceremony and run until Sunday evening throughout the Northern region. The event will be broadcast live on Spark Sport.
Header Image: Mike Young Motorsport (Facebook)
