KEY POINTS:
Richard Mason wants to build on a home ground winning start to the New Zealand rally championship in second round in Otago this weekend.
Two-time national champion Mason and his co-driving wife Sara steered their Subaru to victory at Wairarapa last month and now hope they can repeat last year's success at the championship's southernmost event.
Despite winning, Mason said handling and suspension issues were a concern on his home roads in the Wairarapa, prompting him to enter the recent Tauranga Clubmans rally as a test session.
"I feel now that we've got on top of those," Mason said.
"And, of course, winning the `Tauranga' rally was a nice bonus for sure."
Mason said he enjoyed the Otago roads.
"We're looking forward to getting down there, as naturally we are very keen to extend the 14-point lead we established at our home round.
"Otago is always a step up from other rallies as far as speed is concerned and the roads have a lot of blind crests.
"Therefore accurate pace notes are critical to maintaining optimum speed over these brows and then on through the next sequence of flowing corners."
The Otago rally involves 13 special stages covering 258km.
- NZPA