Top woman driver takes the heat

Emma Gilmour at the wheel of the Subaru Impreza during the Otago rally.

Emma Gilmour set a new benchmark during the second heat of the Otago rally when she became the first woman to lead a heat of the national rally championship in the 32-year history of the series.

New Zealand's top woman rally driver confirmed her status as a frontrunner in the 2006 championship on Sunday's first two special stages, setting equal-fastest time with eventual rally winner and former national champion Chris West on the first before winning the second outright to take the lead for the heat. She was beaten through the next stage by West and reigning national champion Richard Mason, but held off a strong challenge from Sam Murray for the rest of the day to finish the heat in third place.

West went on to win the rally by just 0.2s from Mason.

Having finished fourth in Saturday's opening heat, and placed as high as second at one point during that section of the event, Gilmour secured third-equal national championship points with Murray for the weekend.

She was fourth in the overall standings [behind Murray] for the Otago event.

"It was fantastic to start the day with those two stage wins," said Gilmour.

"But in a sense I am disappointed because I was just a bit off the case on the next stages, and that was enough to allow West and Mason by.

"When you are fighting it out with the guys at this level you cannot afford to lose concentration for even part of a stage."

Gilmour's next event is the Rotorua Rally, which is run in the last weekend of May. It is round two of the New Zealand Rally Championship, and round three of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.