Dynamic duo fine-tune ahead of national rally

Whangarei rally driver Ben Jagger is "flat out" at the moment preparing for the 40th Rally New Zealand as he counts down to its start in Auckland on May 6.
The fact that the event will hold its first stages on gravel roads in the Whangarei area is an added bonus for the 20-year-old and his co-driver Ben Hawkins.
"It's going to be good to start the rally off up here at home and it'll be an exciting event with all the World Rally cars here and the Super 2000 cars coming over, it will more than give the locals a bit of a show that they won't forget in a hurry," he said.
Malley has fond memories of competing in his first Rally New Zealand in 2008, despite an incident-filled drive in his Ford Fiesta, when he led in the 2WD class before crashing out of contention in the final stage.
"The atmosphere is just unreal, people always go on about how good it is but you don't really get the full picture until you're out there competing on the same turf as drivers like Sebastian Loeb. It makes it something else again," he said.
After spending time at the Ford Rally team base in England last year he has an affinity with the Ford team and after meeting Mikko Hirvonen, will be hoping the Finn takes top honours in the WRC section of the rally.
Malley will be driving a Group N car - the new SeedForce Subaru WRX - in this year's rally and exceeded his expectations in the Rally of Otago in early April. He was "stoked" to finish fifth in the Group N cars and sixth overall in his first major rally driving a four-wheel drive car - after winning the New Zealand Rally Championship Group N two-wheel drive title last year.
"Going into it, I was sort aiming for a top ten placing, not really knowing how we'd end up but to finish top five felt like quite an achievement," he said.
"It gives us a bit of confidence going into Rally New Zealand and lets us know where we stand going up the rest of the New Zealand boys and hopefully we'll be able to give it a bit more there."
Since the Rally of Otago, the team's car has had almost a total rebuild and is currently in Auckland getting a new gearbox, clutch and suspension installed.
"By the time that's all finished and it's been to the tuners next week, we'll put it back on the trailer to bring it back but it will almost be time to take it back down to Auckland," he said.
It's a busy time for Jagger and Hawkins but they won't get much time in the car before the national rally gets underway
"I've still definitely got a lot more to learn about the car, so we won't be going at 100 per cent during Rally New Zealand, we'll be easing into it and then see how we feel," he said.