The Shannons Adelaide Rally has reached the midway point for the 2019 edition, with crews having completed 70 competitive kilometres throughout the scenic Adelaide Hills and surrounding towns.
Holding a commanding lead over the field are Dodge Viper Extreme pilots John and Janet Ireland after a huge second day of rallying saw the duo jump from third to first.
Despite not winning a stage thus far, the Ireland’s consistency has seen them build up a 25 second lead over second placed Trevor Macleod and Scott Hunter in the Modern competition.
The Irelands have finished all stages in the top three bar one while as opposed to their rivals in Macleod and Hunter, who endured a difficult day and dropped from overnight leaders to behind the Dodge Viper.
The Subaru Impreza WRX Spec C of Ben Newman and Andy Sarandis ended the second day in third having battled hard with Macleod and Hunter in the Nissan GTR.
Barely anything separates the top two crews in the Classic competition as Michael Busby and Damien Reed enter the event’s second half with a lead of just half a second over day one leaders Craig Haysman and Julie Boorman.
It was a solid comeback from the Mazda RX7 drivers who like the Irelands, jumped from third to first after a solid outing on the second day, which included two stage wins, while Haysman and Boorman’s sole stage win and consistency kept them within reach.
Just 12 seconds behind the front two are Tim Pryzibilla and Rick Powell in their Porsche 911RS, but the best performance of the day came through 1985 Porsche 944 drivers Nick and Jacob Streckeisen.
Holding the class lead during the opening day, the duo had issues on the final stage of the day to drop to 12th outright but bounced back with three stage wins and four second places on day two. However, they still find themselves more than a minute off the pace.
In the Modern and Classic Challenge classes, it was the day one winners who held their nerve and built on their leads to extend their already comfortable gaps.
In the Modern Challenge, Justin Perkins and Andrien Brabbins ended the first day with a 23 second lead over Troy and Colin Zytveld after a clean sweep of stage wins.
That gap was then extended to just under a minute at the halfway point after another day of strong results, however the duo ended up losing two of the second day’s stages to the class’ third placed crew of Tim Sinclair and Karl Alexander in the BMW M3.
It’s an even bigger lead in the Classic Challenge as class leaders Steven Hevera and Stuart Cavill steered their Porsche 911Sc to another clean sweep of stages to end day two with a lead of around one minute and 47 seconds.
The dominant day added to the duo’s huge opening day where they grabbed all five stages to enjoy a 38 second lead over Karl Von Sanden and Alexander Visintin’s Porsche 944.
While Hevera and Cavill continued their stranglehold over the class, Von Sanden and Visintin enjoyed a good day out building a comfortable three-minute gap over third placed Ross and Emma Smith.
The Shannons Adelaide Rally continues with Friday to include the event’s largest stage and the traditional street party in Adelaide city.