Tauranga rally driver Phil Campbell made a solid start to his New Zealand Rally Championship (NZRC) campaign with a podium finish in the Rally of Otago last weekend.
Campbell and co-driver Mal Peden (Cambridge) drove their Ford Fiesta AP4 to fourth place overall at the two-day Otago event, but finished third in the NZRC standings as runaway rally winner Hayden Paddon isn't contesting the national series this year.
''It was an awesome start to the season,'' Campbell said.
''We had clean run on Saturday but a few electrical problems on Sunday that made the car quite hard to drive.
''The engine would cut-out intermittently which wasn't good for the confidence. We were in a secure fourth place and didn't take any big risks.''