Reeves lands
car for PWRC
debut

Reeves, 23, was facing the prospect of having to sit out his home round of the world championship after the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX he was planning to use was sold.

With no alternative available, Reeves - who is co-driven by his sister Rhianon Smyth - dusted off his old Subaru Impreza, which he used to campaign on events in his homeland and in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship prior to his switch to the FIA WRC Academy for 2011.

He said: “Because I’ve been in Europe I’ve not had time to prepare the car so I sent it to Australian Race and Rally Services and said ‘please can you prepare it for me’. The guys have worked for me for a long time and were able to help out.”

Reeves said he was able to secure the necessary backing after members of his supporters’ club stepped in with vital cash.

“We quickly got our supporters’ club going to try and get some funds and everyone with their name on the bonnet has given 50 dollars or more. We had to raise 10,000 Euros to pay for the tyres, we did that and now we’re here.”

He continued: “It’s so important to be able to do this rally because when we’re over in Europe people can’t come and support us on the events. Here people can come and see us and it keeps up our profile. We’re aiming for a top three in the PWRC and if we can get that then it will be a great result.”

Reeves covered 20 kilometres during a test near Coffs Harbour on Monday. “It’s a good car but it’s an older car without much development for a couple of years. We found the tyres we used on Monday to be so hard and we only managed to get a couple of runs in. I normally use a test track at home in Victoria before each rally but there wasn’t time because there has been so much going on but we’ll be okay.”