James Dimmock will be hoping to gain ever-important seat time at this month’s The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally as the 27-year-old hopes to continue his development in the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC).
Having missed the Make Smoking History Forest Rally and the Accent Benchtops Rally Queensland, Dimmock’s return to the ARC via Gippsland has been a long-time in the making.
Following an upgrade to a Toyota Yaris AP4 at the start of the 2023 season, the Canberran had a difficult start to the year, suffering mechanical issues at the Buckby ŠKODA Rally Launceston.
Unfortunately, while Dimmock expectedly missed the Forest Rally, he had intended to contest Rally Queensland, only for delays in replacement parts keeping him sidelined.
However, Dimmock has now obtained the parts and the car is now ready to run, with experienced co-driver Larisa Biggar to once again call the notes.
With the duo having had very little time together and behind the wheel of a working Yaris in the outright competition, Dimmock was hopeful to finally get proper seat time in the car in Gippsland.
“I’m really looking forward to the Gippsland Rally and getting back into it,” Dimmock said.
“I did the event last year in the two-wheel-drive Fiesta and really enjoyed it.”“This year’s route is very similar to last year. Saturday is going to be fun.”
“The roads are fast and technical. It gives you a really good feeling when you get it right.
“We’ve only done 30 competitive kilometres in the car, so we’ll take the opportunity to build into it and progress over the weekend.
“It was a good event for us last year in the Fiesta, and with the stages very similar, I’ve got some great in-car footage to review leading into the event.
“Obviously, the Yaris is going to be a different kettle of fish, but we’ll just chip away at it.”
The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally takes place in Sale, Heyfield and Gippsland on 25-27 August.
