When I read the announcement of the new FIA Rally Star programme in 2020 I was instantly obsessed. A world wide rally talent discovery programme that was going to take the best young sim drivers and rally drivers and give them a fully funded season in the Junior WRC. I’ve been wanting that my whole life. Sign me the hell up.
Qualifying
With it being a “young” talent detection programme I was sure to check the rules on age. Would I still qualify?
A huge relief when I read and re-read the rule. Sure enough I was in, but only just. I would turn 27 on the 7th of January, I meet the criteria by just 7 days. There would be no second attempt if I failed this year. I had to give it everything for one last shot at my rally driver dreams.
I was super excited to begin the competition in 2021. With the sim racing component taking place on WRC 9 I was confident I’d have a good shot. WRC is my all time favourite and the first game I made it to a world finals so I knew if I did the practice I could be on the pace. I also figured any NZ based full metal (“real” race) events I’d have a good chance at. Sure there would be some other fast drivers for those but no reason I couldn’t be one of them.
In order to qualify for the Rally Star finals each country was set to host local qualifying events, either on the sim or using a slalom challenge. There was also the chance to qualify in the world wide online competition called Rally at Home. Rally at Home had 12 rounds with the winner of each round qualifying for their regional finals. The regional finals would then be an in person event with racing in a cross car and other tasks where judges would select one winner per region to get the fully funded rally season prize.
Some countries began local qualifiers in early 2021 but with no word from Motorsport NZ (despite my prompting) I set my sights on the Rally at Home challenges.
With Rally at Home being a world wide event I knew it would be competitive. I dived into practice dedicating long hours after work to improving my pace. The events were held using special DLC (downloadable contact) additions to the WRC 9 game with the first round in March 2021. The competition featured one special stage using a special Rally Star WRC 3 spec Fiesta. The way they set it up we could only access the competition stage and car during the event, and we could only do 100 practice attempts of the stage with out fastest time being taken out of the only 5 competition attempts we got. I made the most of those 100 attempts. I watched videos of top times to try and learn the best techniques. I did everything I could to improve and improve.
But oh boy was it competitive. It’s no surprise with the huge prize on the line that thousands of other drivers around the world were also putting in the work. I did everything I could so with the round 1 deadline approaching I ran my competition attempts. I completely blew a couple attempts but in one I got a pretty good run, 4:39.256 (this first round was in wet conditions). It wasn’t a personal best but it was close enough that I was happy. It put me in 17th in the world, 3 seconds off the top.
Kryspa, RC Noel, VBR Hujda, and Rares Dranca are all drivers who have qualified for and competed in Esports WRC world finals so it just shows how competitive Rally Star is that they weren’t all at the top. Samw1ch was a username I recognized from Hayden Paddons Dirt Rally competition so I was satisfied to come in ahead of him but surprised to see another aussie driver further up the order.
I was happy with my driving but boy was it tough looking at a 3 second gap to the top. It felt like I was close to the limit. Definitely half a second faster was possible, probably a full second if i really nailed everything. But 3 seconds how could I possibly improve that much.
Assessing the chance of winning I decided to put a pause on attempting the Rally at Home challenge with the potential of coming back later in the season when the top drivers had already qualified. And then we got the announcement I was waiting for from Motorsport NZ.
Motorsport NZ announced they’d joined the Rally Star program. But there was no specific details so time again to wait for it to come together.
And I waited
and waited
And it slowly became clear Motorsport NZ had no intention of doing anything. The just wanted to enjoy the promotion for being involved without having to do any work.
But as the Rally at Home neared it’s end there was a new announcement for Rally Star. More rounds added with new qualifying criteria. The top driver for each region would qualify for their final (not just the top overall). Full excitement mode engaged once again. Top in the region is definitely achievable. Straight back into practice.
There were 5 new rounds added. Rounds 13 – 17. Round 13 was the same stage I had learnt for the first round. I slammed practice and then set my 5 competition times. My early attempts were solid and I was trading times with Gabe at the top in region. But the last day it was samw1ch, who had been competing more during the year, who had got ahead. I set my final attempts and improved a little but not enough. The final results:
Still three seconds off the top time but I was proud to be top 10 in the world. And with sandw1ch now qualified and 4 more rounds to go I was confident I would get my regional win.
Round 14 was the stage in reverse which I hadn’t been practicing so I decided to skip it and focused on round 15 that would be in the forward direction again where I was confident I could win.
I set my times and was happy to improve on the previous round but I still had a nervous wait for the official results to be posted.
Sure enough this time I nailed it! Through to the regional finals! 6th in the world and top in Asia/Pacific which booked my spot for regional finals. This was November 2021, a full year after my initial excitement at the announcement and I was finally qualified for the finals.
A close finish only half a second ahead of Gabe. He sent me a nice message and I replied saying with two rounds to go I was sure I’d get to meet him at the finals.
When I qualified there was no details yet about the finals. All we knew was that a regional final was going to happen. I was working on the assumption it would be in Australia given NZ and Aus seem like the biggest rally countries in the region. I also assumed we’d get news at the end of the rally at home season. So I waited.
And the end of the season came and there was news about the Europe finals but nothing about ours. So still I waited. The MENA (Middle East and North Africa) finals came and went. Then the Africa finals came and went.
Finally in June 2022 we had some details. The final would be in India! Planned for September 2-4 at the Madras circuit.
I put off planning the trip some. We didn’t have any details except the location and date. And even those details I only had from the above article and hadn’t been contacted individually.
At this point rally star were still telling me Motorsport NZ were still supposed to be organising a NZ qualifying event so I was keen to follow that and see who would be heading over with me. A month later I followed up and was told that no Motorsport NZ still didn’t have anything organised and in fact hadn’t even been replying to Rally Stars email. Pretty slack. Guess I’m the only kiwi qualified then which is a bit stink but also pretty cool bragging rights.
It’s a big task to plan a solo trip to a place like India. I hadn’t the first clue how to go about it. I got linked up with the qualified Australians and we had messages flying back and forth trying to coordinate our travel plans. Eventually I set about searching for hotels, talking to a travel agent, trying to find places worth visiting near the circuit.
I was just about ready to book when at the end of July the competition got delayed.
All the equipment, including the cross cars, where in a delayed shipping container from the previous Africa finals on their way to India. The new dates, only two weeks later, meant a full restart of the travel planning. The regional finals were now set for September 16-18.
I got leave from work. Booked travel. Booked Accomodation. I had originally planned to do some sort of little tour while in India to explore a bit. Travelling alone really doesn’t appeal to me at all but going all that way without seeing some sights seemed like it would be a wasted opportunity. But with the stress of planning the trip, the expenses adding up, not really knowing what would be worth doing, and now the stress of re-organising everything that explore plan went out the window. I just wanted to do the minimum, get the plans done, go racing, and come back.
And then on the 1st of September I got another delay email.
A second delay! The new dates were set for October 10-12th. All my plans had to be changed. Thankfully I had booked flights and accomo I could move and after carefully selecting the cheapest option it wasn’t too much more expensive to do so. I’m also super grateful I had an understanding employeer who didn’t mind me moving my leave so close to taking it.
More media leading up to the event, this time from dirtfish: https://dirtfish.com/rally/the-search-for-asia-pacifics-next-rally-star/
Despite always having dreamed of being a rally driver it was actually a tough decision weather to attend the regional finals or not. I was very seriously considering not going and had a detailed pros and cons list I kept humming and harring over. The chance of me actually winning against some very experience rally drivers was low. I could go all that way and get knocked out on the first day. The cost of the trip was very high (it cost about 6k in the end). Traveling alone to India in covid times was concerning. And then the delays and lack of information had me loosing faith in the organisation of the event. Some of the Australians withdrew (in fact none of the aussies who qualified through the Rally at Home ended up attending. Disappointing not to meet sandw1ch) and I can’t blame them. Even my boyfriend thought I shouldn’t go and my parents, while offering support, really didn’t think it was worth spending all this money on. But ultimately I had to attend, I would regret it if I didn’t, and this could be my last big sim racing event.
In September, after what we hoped was and was in fact the last delay, we got sent some questions to fill out. I was pretty stoked to then later see my name and answers appear on the official FIA website in this rally star article: https://www.fia.com/news/eyes-prize-fia-rally-star-asia-pacific-final
https://fiarallystar.com/en/asia-pacific-final
Ahead of the finals I tried to organise a test session in a cross car to prepare me for what to expect. Unfortunately with the late notice of the finals dates, then the uncertainty of when/if it was still happening, and the cost of the trip mounting I didn’t end up making it happen.
In the lead up to the finals I went to Rally NZ 2022 and chatted to Motorsport NZ CEO Elton. He again congratulated me on qualifying for the finals and mentioned there was another kiwi going over. Um what? Did I miss something? Surely not because I had followed the competition closely. In any case another kiwi sneaking into the finals instantly becomes my main rival.
That other kiwi turned out to be Jackson Clendon, an experienced young NZ rally driver. I later found out he simply asked Motorsport NZ to be an NZ wildcard entry (after seeing the Australian wildcards get entry the same way) and they simply said yes and that was that. All my effort to qualify and Jackson gets in the same finals just by asking.
The Finals
Finally in October 2022 I made the journey to India, a full 2 years after the original excitement of the Rally Star announcement.
Visiting India
The trip to India was a long one. I flew via Singapore for a total travel time of 17 hours. Singapore airport is really nice so arriving at the Chennai Airport in India was a big contrast. It was immediately clear it was more run down and less organised but then when I headed into the toilets it was dirty and gross. I needed to go number 2 so I went into the stalls and I’m glad I thought to check the toilet paper because there was none. I checked the other stalls, no toilet paper in any of them. Oh uh guess I’m holding until after immigration.
Naturally I was exhausted after the long journey. I queued up for immigration just hoping I was in the right place when someone spotted my Gran Turismo shirt and introduced themselves, “Hey are you Matt”. It was Molly, one of the Australian Rally Star competitors. Turns out a bunch of the Aussies entries were on that same flight. We were in different spots in the line so agreed to catch up once through. That line didn’t seem very long but boy it took soooo long, or maybe I was just sooo tired and wanted to get out and to the hotel quick.
Through security and to bag check and again the run down dirty environment struck me. Dirty/muddy floors. A big bag carousel absolutely surrounded with people. A massive area of bags laid out on the ground. Naturally first thing I was after was the toilets. Thankful for signs in both India and English I found it and again it was a mess. There was literally a poo on the ground next to one of the toilets. Gross. It wasn’t too bad to stop me going though.
Free wifi in the airport allowed me to take a whatsapp call from the taxi driver that I’d organised ahead of time. I was struggling to make out what he was saying through the noise and through the Indian accent and broken English. I think I got the point across that I was at the international terminal (surely he should have known this?) waiting for my bag. I weaved through the crowds to pull my bag off the carousel, it was seriously madness how packed people were right up as close as they could get to the bags coming round, then headed outside.
Walking outside was walking into a wave of heat. Not immediately uncomfortable but in clear contrast from the aircon inside. It was dark and really noisy. Lots of people around and cars honking away in the carpark and nearby roads. I met up with Molly again with her partner Zayne. They had sussed out a taxi for everyone while I was on my phone hoping that data roaming would just work now that I wasn’t within range of the airport wifi. Thankfully it did work and my taxi driver was able to find me so I left them waiting for the other Aussies to come out and headed to the hotel.
Taxi out of the airport was like wow all the crazy India roads cliches are true. Their reputation for honking all the time is well deserved. Everyone just goes for it. No adherence to road lanes or right of way it’s just go for the gap. Honk if you’re coming up to someone in case they don’t see you. Three and 4 wide on a two lane road. Dodging between cars and trucks. Motorbikes hooning through it all too. Pot holes and jagged road edges adding to the mayhem. Then we got out of town a bit and it settled down. Pulled into gated hotel and felt like I could relax. Secure in the western comforts.
Exploring India
The next morning I went down and grabbed breakfast by myself feeling intimidated by being in a foreign country alone. And then later the messages came in on the group chat and I came back down to join all the Aussies that have arrived with me the night before and were staying at the same hotel. It was awesome to get to meet everyone all excited for the competition ahead. Everyone was so nice and I was so grateful to be able to tag along rather than face the trip alone. Turns out a couple of peoples bags hadn’t arrived at the airport so they had had to go through the lost bags process and were late in the night before. And with no clothes they were still wearing those from their long journey the day before.
Over breakfast the conversation amongst a group of race drivers naturally ended up on racing. Some discussed going back to their rooms to watch the F1 or Bathurst before the idea of getting a projector in a conference room to watch together was floated. Molly made a few inquires and soon we had a room rented and the racing was going up on the big screen. It didn’t work so great, this was the Suzuka race that had massive rain delays, but was cool to be hanging out with everyone. I was learning they all had a lot of rally experience, a few competing at the top level in the Australia championship. During some of the conversation I felt like a fraud as they discussed specific details of modifications they had on their engines or parts they wanted to get next. I was slightly terrified I wouldn’t stack up and would have come all this way to be knocked out on the first day. No use dwelling on that though I knew I would just have to be prepared and go hard the next day.
Molly was quickly becoming the good organiser, later being dubbed the group Mum, between the conference room and then organising for us all to go out and see the local shops. Originally the plan was to allow the guys who didn’t have their bags to buy clothes and supplies but just as we were readying to leave a motorbike pulled up with their bags. A big relief I’m sure. Never the less we headed out to explore and check out India. We went by taxi to a local shopping street, walked up the road full of mud and grub and more hectic driving, saw dogs and cows wandering about, then went to a local temple and were lucky enough to bump into a kind stranger who explained it’s meaning and history. It was a few hours well spent for sure.
The Taxi rides were crazy. We joked we didn’t need our phones because just watching, and being in, the madness was more than enough entertainment, even if a bit terrifying at times. The roads in India are mayhem with cars driving close and squeezing through any gaps, not following any lanes, honking as they come past. One group reported their taxi took them the wrong way down the highway rather than have to go down to the next intersection. On a later day we had loads of traffic on the highway only to find later down the road a wall of busses trying to head straight at us. Bizarre. But somehow it all worked. We never saw any accidents or any particular road rage. We’d squeeze between two trucks only centimeters on each side but never hit anything as horns blared.
Had dinner together. Taylor wasn’t a fan. Others joked about how fussy he is (usually I’m the fussy one!) and how he’d prefer tiny teddies. I wasn’t sure I’d heard them right.
Day 1 – Race Day
Racing was at Madras International Circuit. After another hectic taxi ride we pulled in and picked up our name tags before walking down the track to the Rally Star setup. The track somehow felt professional and run down at the same time with the surroundings overgrown but the tarmac looking mint.
Getting recognized by Toasty, the event and Rally at Home organisers was a cool little moment, sure he had all the details of every driver but he used my tag MonkeyMatt not my name Matt and made me feel a little bit famous.
After briefing I saw everyone in race shoes which I’d opted not to bring after we were told we couldn’t have any race brands showing. Everyone (being most the aussies or top drivers not actually everyone, call it everyone serious) arriving with the kit made it feel like I was up against professionals. We all got overalls/helmet/etc to wear and suddenly it was getting real. We were going racing.
Unfortunately due to recent bad weather the intended off road circuit was under water so the organisers had setup a short motorkhana style loop mostly on the tarmac circuit.
There were 45 drivers taking part in Rally Star Asia-Pacific. We were split into groups where we would each get one rece lap and two timed laps of the short coned off course. I was in the first group.
The clutch was crazy. I wasn’t the only one struggling because it was instant. I was trying to take it easy on the equipment but it required commitment and a gently touch. The second day I tied my shoes a lot tighter and got on better, I really could have done with having my race shoes. Some of the other competitors had less race experience than me and really struggled, some had never driven a manual before so just getting around the course was an achievement but they were never challenging for day 2 qualification. At the other end of the spectrum most of the aussies had it nailed. Quickly getting on with pushing the crosscar going for the fastest times.
Once I got off the line and got over the embarrassment of stalling a couple times I was off and it was such a blast. We got to first to a slower rece lap where I was trying to get a feel for changing gears and seeing how much grip there was. My smile growing all the time but also nervous not to screw up and spin or hit something (there were strong words in the briefing about don’t be dumb on the rece) or go the wrong way. Then once I came around for a full speed run and put my foot down I was in heaven. It was so much fun to drive. Straight away I was sliding through some of the corners feathering the throttle to control the exit angle letting the rear hang out a little longer than necessary just because it was exciting. My only prior loose surface experience was a few kilometers at rally school and I’d never driven a crosscar but the car control felt completely natural after so much sim racing.
One pain point was the tight hairpin. The clearly faster way to take this corner was to pull the handbrake and slide the car around. However that’s not a move I’ve done before in real cars and after a warning from the instructors about it being particularly difficult to make work in the crosscar, and watching others attempt it and stall, I didn’t take that risk. By mid day the judges were so sick of people pulling the handbrake and screwing it up they called a meeting to grumpily express that the handbrake is banned, don’t use it, ya’ll aren’t skilled enough. A couple of the aussies still went for it and after nailing the corner the judges didn’t complain to them.
With each passing corner I was growing in confidence to push more and more. Carrying a bit more speed through each corner. The pressure was on knowing we only get two attempts to set a time to qualify for day 2. Through the final chicane I pushed my braking too deep and collected the cones big time on my second run. Crap could I be toast? After only 5 minutes in the car my trip to India could already be ending. Hopefully my first run was enough. Everyone watching thought I should make it.
On day one I got to meet Gabe who I’d raced online. So cool to put a face to the name I’d been battling against in the online qualifiers and share a moment appreciating how cool it was we’d made it to these finals.
Turns out Taylor is big into tiny teddies and had brought a box with him. The rest of us enjoyed some great Indian lunch put on by the organisers.
Having been in the first group I then had to wait all day for results. And at the end of the day when we finally hear who’s made it through to day 2 my name isn’t called. My worst nightmare. Out on day one. I wanted to cry but was also surprised and frustrated. Did they exclude me completely for hitting the cone or something because my first run was surely enough. Maybe I missed out by a small margin. All the other aussies made it through and were happy although they were confused how I didn’t make and a couple suggested something must be wrong but what could I do I just felt I had to take it on the chin. Then results were posted in the sportity app we all had. I went straight to my times and I’m well last. WHAT THE HELL. There’s no way I was slowest in that group. What happened.
Now I was upset and pissed off. At the same time I was doubting myself. Maybe I did something dumb. Maybe they started timing before my first stall instead of when I crossed the line. All the aussies were becoming focussed on my time now. We all thought this can’t be right. I will be forever grateful to that Aussie contingent for what happened next. They got behind me and took the situation to one of the officials. He was hands off saying sorry that’s the official results but did concede to take it to the timing officials to check if something happened. I was left stewing and stressing for quite some time. The day was over with others heading home but our ANZ group were sticking around to see what came of my case. A couple times people came to check what the deal was and we had to try be level and calmly explain the time must be wrong. They were insisting that no they have timing units in the cars and they checked again and that is indeed the times I got.
Eventually we got called over by the Rally Star boss to show us the times they had and how there was no mistake. I was so grateful that Dallas Gill (Taylors Dad) came with me. He was calm but persistant that he had timed it on his phone and it was much faster than the time they had down for me. The time was so slow that they should have been able to visually see the difference between me and the other drivers but instead I looked faster doing the loop. The boss man showed us this spreadsheet in excel which I had a little chuckle about after expecting some sophisticated timing software. He explains how they timed the two separate runs and there are the times in those cells there. But I standing there trying to understand what ALL the rows and columns mean. There must be some mistake and I’m looking around trying to find it. “Can you explain what this column means” I said trying to not get upset or angry. The times didn’t add up but I didn’t want to say that straight up incase I just wasn’t understanding it. It took a couple goes for even him to understand it and explain and then it was like ok that’s what I thought so how come those start and finish times there don’t match the recorded lap time over there. I could see it plain as day it didn’t add up. There was a mistake and there was proof that there was a mistake. We went back and forth trying to get the point through and I admit I almost boiled over at one point but it was so frustrating. I had so much emotion to keep down. They had been so firm that there was no mistake to begin with but there it was in front of them. And they did admit to it. Called up the timers and asked what was going on. Turns out since we were the first group they had made a mistake in also timing the rece runs until, during my run, the Rally Star boss had told them not to. And when they changed their process they mucked it up for me. We had the start and finish times on the sheet so a simple calculation later and they had my actual time. I’m still not sure they got it right but they did give me a time fast enough to get me through to the second day. They admitted it. I was through. My word the relief. So much relief. It wasn’t over. All the ANZ drivers were through. Thank you Dallas.
#Didyouknow, the Madras International Circuit inaugurated in 1990 is the first permanent circuit in India’s history! 🤩 Check out our Day 1 onboard! 🚗 #RallyStar #BeTheNextOne #RoadToWRC #TN5 #AsiaPacificFinal #MadrasInternationalCircuit
Day 2
Going into the second day we were down to 26 drivers and I knew it would be more competitive. But having seen the field on day 1 I felt I still had a shot of being fast enough to qualify for the final day. I also knew that there was a second chance on day 2 where drivers who didn’t make it in their group could attempt the digital challenge where the top 2 drivers from that would also make it through. The added bonus of that is we didn’t have to wait all day to get our group results as we had on day one.
At the start of the day the judges stressed that the crap should be gone now and people shouldn’t be doing silly things like stalling or driving the wrong way. Of course that added to the pressure and nerves getting into the car.
For day 2 we had a rearranged slightly longer course with a small dirt section. Colour me excited. Now with two loops around the main section and the chicane that caught me out the first day replaced with an excursion onto the dirt for a couple of corners. It was another awesome experience. I was a bit nervous taking on the dirt but after watching others before me I resolved myself to just send it and see.
When we got the group times back I wasn’t surprised to not be the fastest. I ended up P3 just missing out on the two qualification spots. I didn’t expect one of the Sri Lankan drivers to have a time so much quicker than the rest of us. I’m not entirely convinced it was legit when he ended up being the quickest of the day by a full 6 seconds. Dodgy India time keepers striking again? At the end of the day some of the judges even quietly expressed to a few of us that they weren’t so confident the time keepers where unbiased.
So after not making it through the groups I took on the second chance digital challenge and felt the pressure. This was my home turf. This is were I should be able to beat all the experienced rally drivers. I made some big mistakes my first run. The second run was scruffy and I knew there was lots of time to gain. And then the third run was alright. Not great but maybe enough? I found out I was sitting second so far. Only two make it through. I’m the driver at risk.
Aiden posted his digital challenge time right near the end of the day and reported sitting 3rd. Someone thought they maybe saw I’m still in second. I don’t want to get into speculation and get excited in case it doesn’t work out. I have to wait for the official results.
And when they were posted I was still second! Through to the final day! I’d achieved my goal of going the distance. Mega happy and proud of that. Two ANZ drivers unfortunately didn’t make it, Ethan and Aiden. But then the judges saw how close Aiden was to making it in both the crosscar and digital challenge and decided to bend the rules and put him through to the final day as a bonus driver. Celebrations in the Aus/NZ camp.
Now it was down to 13.
😎 It’s technical, it’s fast and it’s fun. Here is our 1,3 km long track of the day in the LifeLive #TN5 cross cars! 🚗 #RallyStar #WRC #BeTheNextOne #RoadToWRC #PirelliMotorsport #Fit4Rally #AsiaPacificFinal #MadrasInternationalCircuit
Day 3 – The Final Showdown
Run in the morning. We knew it was coming but standing in the India heat made it all the more daunting. All I could think was please don’t come last. It felt like I almost died trying to keep going for one more beep each time. After a few minutes on the floor I was happy to have finished mid pack but super mad at myself for not going just one more beep than Jackson, we’d finished at the same time. Fair to say I was so glad I wasn’t up first in the car straight after running. One guy literally went to the toilet to puke afterwards. Taylor was a beast and I remember thinking holy heck he’s fresh and ready to go for the first group that’s unbelievable.
Another part of the final day was a reaction test. The had cool light up touch devices setup out of reach which you needed to move and touch as fast as you can when they lit up. That reaction test didn’t work very well. It was surprisingly bad at picking up touches. I’d been warned about it but still had struggles to begin with and couldn’t figure out a completely reliable technique. They didn’t release the results so I couldn’t even tell you how I did.
More driving. This time with a longer stage taking in a big off road section now it had all dried out a little, although it was still an adapted route not the original plan. It was crazy fun. My first proper run off road and I was loving it. Feeling the car slide over the gravel in exactly the way I expected. At this point I basically knew I wasn’t a chance of being as quick as the experienced rally drivers, and having been in the car a couple times now, I was more relaxed and just having fun with it. Still trying to go fast but also taking it all in. It was a blast. Of course I didn’t set the fastest time but I was proud to be close enough to all the experienced rally drivers. (they didn’t realise the official times but the spectators were getting a good gauge on it).
There was one particularly tight corner on the dirt on the far side of the course. Here’s where I felt most out of my comfort zone. It wasn’t a hard corner to take but it was hard to take fast. All rutted and bumpy with a bale on the inside I was taking it reasonably cautious. After my runs I asked Molly about how she took that corner and will always remember her answer as she explained how she was full sideways on entry. My reaction must have given away how far from achieving that I was as Molly gave me the “oh yeah I forget you’ve not got rally experience”.
POV: On your way to Asia-Pacific Final glory! 🏆 #RallyStar #WRC #RoadToWRC #AsiaPacificFinal #MadrasInternationalCircuit
After everyones runs the judges adjudicated and decided to call up a number of drivers to have another attempt, so they could compare them with equal conditions. I didn’t get the call up, a pretty good sign I wasn’t in contention to win even though they tried to tell us that wasn’t the case. Jayden was one of the fastest on the day but on this extra run he crashed out the back of the track out of site. Spectating we could just see the top of the tree shake and heard the little thud and engine stop. He’d got it wrong through the tight chicane, clipping one side and sending him off. The crosscar didn’t fair to badly and Jayden came back physically alright but fair to say he was absolutely gutted when he got back, viewing that mistake as throwing away a chance at the win. Rumour was the MSport boss did indeed rule him out after that, not wanting a winner who would crash his cars.
A lot has changed for me since that original excitement at the announcement in 2020. I’ve felt my enthusiasm for competing in sim racing wane. I haven’t been competing regularly and have been enjoying the commentary opportunities I’ve had more than the racing. In fact at times I’ve been calling myself retired from sim racing, only half jokingly. On that last day, staring at the contract I was being forced to sign (we all had to sign so the winner is locked in before it’s announced), all these thoughts were running through my head. I put off signing for as long as I could. Mostly because I was mad at the situation they had put us in, signing a contract that says we have had time to seek legal advice and negotiate the terms when we did not and were not allowed to, but also in part because I wasn’t sure I wanted to win that prize. A year of rallies and training with a lot of restrictions on what else you are allowed to do. It’s something I’ve known for a while but have still struggled to accept, I’m not sure I still want to be a professional race driver, weather rally or sim racing. It’s hard to accept when it’s been my dream my entire life. Sim racing has been the center of my life for years and the source of my greatest achievements. I still love racing itself but spending the obsessive amount of time and effort required to compete at the top solely focussed on improving driving technique no longer sounds fun to me. It sounds draining and tough and boring. I was eventually told to sign the contract or leave the competition. When I signed it and handed it back in my feelings suddenly became clear. I didn’t want to win. I didn’t want to drop everything else in my life to chase the rally dream anymore. Later on as we sat waiting for the winners announcement I found myself hoping and hoping it was someone else. A bizarre feeling to be hoping to lose for the first time but finally I had accepted my dream in life is no longer to be a professional race driver.
During the announcement I was hoping not to win but in reality I already knew I wasn’t going to. In between me signing the contract and the winner announcement was the final task of the day, interviews with the judges. One by one we were called into the judges corner to have our interview. When I was eventually called as one of the last I headed upstairs, waited my turn, then headed into the private walled off judges section. Sitting down in front of the four judges was intimidating but they were lovely. It was an awkward chat in which they said I did well “for a sim driver” (ouch) commenting on my lack of experience off road. But most of the conversation was them giving feedback about improving my driving, particularly my braking. It was over very quickly and didn’t feature much input from me. Talking to the Aussies I hadn’t been asked the questions they had, like “what are my rally career goals?”, or “why do I want to win?”. It was clear the judges weren’t considering me even before I entered that room. Something I could have assumed based on my pace but still brutal to have to go through.
And then it was time for the announcement. Everyone sat around while the judges told us how hard it was to decide, how good all final drivers were, how everyone who doesn’t win should continue rallying and trying to improve and make it into the WRC. It was a nice sentiment but with repetition it stops sounding genuine. And then the announcement. The winner was Taylor Gill from Australia, and the female winner Pragathi Gowda from India. Huge congratulations to those two. Taylor in particular was incredible all day and I’m sure will be climbing the WRC career ladder a long way. All powered by Tiny Teddies.
Big disappointment for Molly Spalding. The whole aussie/nz contingent was rooting for her and she must have only missed out by the smallest margin. She was gutted and fair enough too.
Rumour was the the other kiwi, Jackson Clendon, was in the judges discussions to take the prize, he had been one of the quicker drivers, but the MSport boss ruled him out on personality. I’m not sure if I would have been happy or mad if another kiwi, who wasn’t me, had won.
There were no rankings given out on the final day, only first and not first. I cheekily asked to confirm I wasn’t last. Hooray top 12.
After the announcement it was a bit of waiting while Taylor shook hands, had photos, did interviews and the likes. Then we headed back to the hotel. Slept. Got up in the morning and began the long journey home. And let me tell you two 5+ hour layovers with total 27 hours travel is not much fun.
In the end I’m extremely proud of my result. Just organising and traveling to India alone was hectic. Getting through to the final day was huge. To complete the beep test with a reasonably score, equalling the other kiwi, was great. Driving on dirt for the first time and actually being competitive was amazing. Being considered to be in the top 12 young rally talents in Asia/Pacific is incredible. I’m proud of that result and I had a lot of fun along the way.
Day 1:
Day 2:
Day 3:
