Rally New Zealand's Rising Stars Driver Ben Jagger heads to the lower North Island this weekend to contest Rally Wairarapa, the final round of the 2010 Vantage Aluminium Joinery NZ Rally Championship.
After showing good pace in the opening round of the season, Jagger has since suffered an ample share of misfortune over the middle three rounds of the championship. He hopes to have put all that behind him and this weekend finish the final on a high displaying good car speed and some solid results.
"We will be doing our own thing, getting my confidence back up and see how we are going after the first day. We want to finish on a high which would be good."
"We are looking at a finish first up but after Saturday we will see how it looks." says Jagger.
A fast turnaround of less than three weeks between Rally Nelson and this weekend's final has put the Jagger Rallysport team to the test rebuilding much of the Seedforce Subaru WRX Impreza.
An excursion from the road at Nelson saw significant damage to the rally car after Jagger came across an incident early in Special Stage Two causing him to take evasive action.
"It's been full on over the last couple of weeks and only today the suspension is going in and getting a wheel alignment before it heads off down the line. The car has pretty much been fully rebuilt and it should be mint for the weekend." he says.
Jagger and co-driver Ben Hawkins, otherwise known as "The Two Bens", have had their championship suffer after three retirements over three of the five rounds leaving them in 12th place overall in the four wheel drive standings.
Last season the Northland pair won the Group N two wheel drive championship and took up the challenge to enter the top level of Group N four wheel drive this year in the Seedforce Subaru WRX Impreza.
A good start in the opening round at Rally Otago saw them finish inside the top five and Jagger believes they have had the pace to repeat that result but are running out of rounds to demonstrate it.
"It would be good if there were more rounds, there were six last year which was good although more rounds is more expensive. But then we still have Rally of the North coming in October which we also hope to do well at." says Jagger.
This weekend's Rally Wairarapa is the final round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship and is held on the 11 and 12th of September.
The Trusthouse Racetech Rally Wairarapa ceremonial start and NZRC signing session commences at 6pm on Friday night at Rally HQ, Copthorne Resort, Solway Park, Masterton.
Further information regarding Ben Jagger and the SeedForce Subaru Impreza WRX is available at www.benjagger.co.nz.
Ben Jagger is the current Rally New Zealand Rising Stars Scholarship recipient in the Group N 4WD championship and a graduate of the Elite Motorsport Academy.
