WRC Academy star
unlucky in
Tasmania

Unfortunately for Reeves he was unable to repeat the success he enjoyed on the WRC Academy season-opener in Portugal last month when a mechanical fault forced his retirement on the final day of the five-day asphalt rally.

Reeves and co-driving sister Rhianon Smyth were third overall and leading two-wheel-drive crew in their Mazda RX8 SP only for a turbo boost fault to strike midway through the second stage of day five competition, which totalled 590 competitive kilometres.

“It’s a really disappointing way to end the event,” said the 23-year-old, who was second to Alastair Fisher in the WRC Academy section of Vodafone Rally de Portugal. “The team have done a great job all week and we were in a great position to finish on the podium, but these things happen - that’s motorsport.”

Reeves isn’t the only WRC Academy driver keeping busy ahead of round two, May’s Acropolis Rally. Elfyn Evans and Fisher will be competing on the Pirelli International Rally, round three of the British championship, in north-west England this weekend. They will both be driving Ford Fiesta R2s, virtually identical to the M-Sport-prepared examples used as standard in the WRC Academy.