Rallying: Aussie edges Swede in rally

Chris Atkinson has taken back-to-back victories at the Brother International Rally of Whangarei with a 28.1s winning margin over fellow Asia Pacific Rally Championship contender Per-Gunnar Andersson as the two-day event wrapped up.

Atkinson, an Australian, piloted a Skoda Fabia S2000 car in his and the car's first event with Team MRF from India.

Last year, Atkinson won the event in a Proton Satria Neo S2000 car - the car now driven by runner-up Andersson.

Third overall and third APRC finisher was Atkinson's team-mate Indian Gaurav Gill in a similar MRF-backed Skoda.

First Kiwi competitor home yesterday for the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championship powered by Brother was Coromandel's Alex Kelsey in his open four-wheel-drive category Subaru.

At 19-years-old, Kelsey was the youngest-ever winner of a NZRC round in its 37-year history.

After a strong run on Saturday, Dunedin's Emma Gilmour's hopes unravelled yesterday with a puncture and a series of issues getting the wheel changed. Gilmour fought back through the afternoon stages, but a strong, consistent run from fellow NZRC Group N 4WD competitor Matt Jansen from Christchurch, saw Jansen take second in NZRC with Gilmour having to settle for third.

Northland's sole NZRC contender, Team Dilusi Rallying's Kingsley Thompson and co-driver John Allen completed the event in seventh place overall, and fourth in the NZRC.

Following his overall and APRC victory, Atkinson said he had had a great weekend.

"The team have been amazing. The car, the tyres, everything worked really well. It was always going to be tough being up against the factory Proton team. The MRF team came along with a brand new car and straight out of the box we were on the pace and were able to control the rally, which is great. I was just driving to beat PG - that is all I was worried about, the APRC points. We were trying to judge our speed and not try doing anything we didn't have to," Atkinson said.

Swedish driver Andersson

said Atkinson did a great job yesterday after being first on the road, to drive at his pace.

"We've been trying to catch up as much as we could but we couldn't do it just by driving - he had to make a mistake, have a puncture or something else. We were trying to keep the pressure on and enjoy those roads best I could - it was great fun. I think we will be stronger for the next rally," Andersson said.

New to the NZRC this year was the power stage - this was the final stage of the event, the 21.19km Waipu Caves. First-ever power stage honours went to Christchurch's Chris West who restarted yesterday after withdrawing temporarily on Saturday with drive-train issues.

The rally covered 283.28 kilometres over roads around Whangarei and through the Northland and Kaipara regions.

The two-day rally counted as the opening round of the 2012 FIA APRC and NZRC. The event attracted nearly 50 drivers from India, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Sweden, United Kingdom, and New Caledonia and across NZ.