Quinn owe sa debt to his girlfriend after dramatic domestic title finale
There was a degree of concern at the finish. Where was Nathan Quinn? The guy had just landed the biggest moment of his life, winning the Australian Rally Championship title with a stunning drive on the final round.
No worries. Quinny had popped to the boozer on the way back from the final stage. Coffs Harbour is his town and he spied an opportunity to share his success with his mates before completing the formalities of the rally itself. Ahead of the ARC season finale, only Quinn’s Mitsubishi and Molly Taylor’s Subaru stood a chance of taking the title. For Taylor, success would mean back-to-back titles. For Quinn, it would mean the world. Taylor needed second; Quinn the win.
They were both doing their bit, with the Lancer leading the WRX, and just when Quinn admitted he needed a miracle, Taylor’s engine lost power, fell sick and stopped.
The title was his. A AUS$1500 (£850) loan from his girlfriend had got him through. “We had people through the year reaching into their own pockets helping pay for it. We definitely bit off more than we could chew, and it all worked out for us. I said: ‘If we don’t win it this year, we won’t ever win it’.
“I’d always had it planned out, but I didn’t think it would work out. I guess you could say this is a fairytale.” And a nightmare for Taylor. She said: “It’s heartbreaking, there’s no way around that. Everything was going to plan but it’s motorsport and it always picks the worst time to break your heart. I thought we might be able to creep through and hold position, but it went from bad to worse. It wasn’t going any further.”
The Australian Rally Championship title race provided an entertaining support story on the season’s worst supported WRC round, with only one WRC2 entry for Kalle Rovanpera. Predictably, the 17-year-old Finn scored his maiden class success despite a double puncture on Saturday.
“I have learned a lot from this rally,” he said. “It wasn’t quite as difficult as Wales, the grip was a bit more consistent here, but I had made some changes to the pacenotes and I was pleased that they were working well by the end. We had a small sensor problem with the car, but nothing too bad and the speed was where I wanted it to be – we were at the same gap to the leaders as the fastest [R5] cars on other rounds of the championship. That’s good.
“Winning is nice and I’m now the youngest driver to score FIA points [in the WRC2]. I don’t think that will be beaten for a while!”
At just 17 years, one month and 19 days old, it’s hard to disagree with that assessment.