Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari and Killian Duffy were victorious in the WRC 2 class of Rally Australia and have moved to the top of the FIA championship standings. The Qatari and Mayo partnership who rally the Seashore backed Ford Fiesta RRC, began Sunday’s last leg of the four day event with a comfortable 1min 13sec lead over Ukrainian Yuriy Protasov. They lost just 0.4sec of this margin by the end, claiming top WRC2 crew and finishing in 10th place overall.
It was not all plain sailing for the pair, after moving into the lead on stage 12 they continued to push hard, sometimes a little too hard. They were lucky to get away with a spin on stage 15 that saw the Fiesta end up in a field. With calm restored they headed for service in Coffs Harbour, not relinquishing their lead again.
It was the third WRC 2 victory of the season for Al-Kuwari and Duffy who also took maximum points on the other long-haul rounds in Mexico and Argentina. The pair now lead the WRC 2 drivers’ and co-drivers’ standings respectively.
