Adelaide Rally win for Rullo and Glenney

IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing has achieved top honours at the Adelaide Rally, with drivers Alex and Peter Rullo finishing first and second overall in the three-day event.

Run on the twisty tarmac of the picturesque Adelaide Hills, the father-and-son teammates were the ones to beat as they guided their Hyundai i20 N Rally2s ahead of their fellow Competition rivals.

The team, typically focussed on the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship, switched to tarmac competition for the first time in 2024 and were always at the top of the leaderboard.

Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney won the opening stage of the rally on Friday morning, and never relinquished their lead throughout the rally's 30 stages.

A lead of 48 seconds at the end of Friday was built upon through the weekend’s stages, and the car's constant improvement meant it was a win by almost a minute and a half by the completion of the rally.

For the former Supercars driver, it was a nice feeling to be back on a sealed surface.

“It was a really good event for us, the car was on rails all weekend,” Alex Rullo explained. “I was getting a feel for the roads, and we settled into a nice rhythm.

“Of course, there is going to be a lot of learning at an event like this, and with cold tyres, it was super slippery. Once they were warm, however, it was nice and grippy and the car was really comfortable to drive on the limit.

“We had a good gap after Friday so we could relax a little bit through Saturday and Sunday, and didn't take risks where we didn't need to.”

The second IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing Hyundai of Peter Rullo and James Marquet finished second after a rally-long battle with local driver Oscar Matthews.

Rullo and Matthews tied for second overall after Friday, however, the former would eke out an advantage as the event progressed.

Amongst the team’s overall honours, they also achieved the Adelaide Tourist Trophy (first interstate team) and the King of the Mountain crown.

The much-anticipated 7.56-kilometre Mount Lofty stage was the sole qualifier for the King of the Mountain prize, and the West Australian duo were split at the top of the timesheets by just three seconds.

Alongside the IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing cars at the event were a series of ’N’ model Hyundais, entered in the Tour category for Peter Page Hyundai.

The speed-limited category allowed customers to experience the best of their performance Hyundais, and throughout the rally weekend, Tour and Competition crews worked together as part of a wider Peter Page Hyundai team.

“It was really good working with Peter Page Hyundai,” Alex Rullo added. “Paul, the Dealer Principal, sorted us out with our team’s recce cars, so we went and wrote our pace notes in a couple of Hyundais, which were nice and comfortable!

“After the street party in the city on Saturday night, they organised a dinner for all the owners and people that have bought Hyundai ’N’ cars from the dealership.

“We were comparing some of the road-going i20 Ns versus our rally cars, and it was great to meet all of them.

“They're all really enthusiastic about their cars and it was pretty cool that they could drive the same roads that we were racing on.”

The last remaining event on the calendar for IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing is Rally Tasmania, the final round of the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship.

Conducted from November 22-24, the rally heads to a new area, near Burnie in the north-west of the state, in what’s expected to be a fierce battle for the podium placings.