N.Z. DRIVERS IN BIG AUST. RALLY

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33964, 3 October 1975, Page 12

N.Z. DRIVERS IN BIG AUST. RALLY

(By

EVAN GREEN, in Sydney.)

Overseas drivers have gained the top five starting positions in Australia’s richest rally, due to begin in Sydney on October 8.

Two Finns, a Swede, a Scot and a New Zealander will head the field of 85 crews taking part in the 3400 km rally. The event is the $12,000 Total Oil Southern Cross International Rally. It will start at the Opera House at noon on October 8, cover a maze of forestry and mountainous roads along the New South Wales north coast, and finish at Port Macquarie on October 12. Hannu Mikkola of Finland will start first.

Australian Sporting Car Club officials allocated the coverted number one starting position to his factoryentered Mitsubishi Lancer.

Mikkola, regarded by many as the world’s finest rough-road rally driver, will be competing in Australia for the first time. He has victories in the London-Mexico World Cup Rally, East African Safari, New Zealand Heatway Rally, and this year’s Moroccan and Finnish rallies to his credit. The Finn — a full-time professional rally driver with an income more than double that of the Australian Prime Minister — will

head a strong Japanese thrust to win the rally for the fourth consecutive year. His special works-pre-pared Lancer will be followed by the Datsun 710 of former Monte Carlo Rally winner Rauno Aaltonen. The two Finns are among a record 36 overseas drivers taking part in the event. And while most of the foreign competitors are Japanese, the strongest chance of a Japanese car winning will come from vehicles crewed by top European or Australian drivers. The former European champion, Harry Kallstrom, of Sweden, has been allocated number three starting position. He will drive one of three works-entered Datsun 710 s.

London-Sydney Marathon winner, Andrew Cowan, of Scotland, will start at four in the second of four fac-tory-prepared Mitsubishi Lancers. Cowan has won the

Total rally three times in a row, but will face tougher opposition this year. New Zealander Mike Marshall, who scored a dashing win in the Heatway Rally two months ago, will start behind Cowan. He is driving a Ford Escort RSIBOO. First Austalian driver away will be dual Southern Cross winner Barry Ferguson, whose Lancer will start at number six. The first Japanese driver, Tatsuo Yaginuma (Lancer) has drawn 11. The Brut Alfetta, which I will drive with three-times winning navigator John Bryson, will start at 16, just behind Kenjiro Shinozuka of Japan in a Lancer. If the first night is dusty or wet, a group of toprated New Zealand drivers may find their late starting order a handicap. Paul Adams (Escort RS1600) will start at 22, Alan Brough (Toyota Levin) at 24, Colin Taylor (Escort RS1600) at 27 and Howard Collier (Escort RS1600) at 34.