Improvements give Rullo confidence ahead of South Australia

South Australia’s round of the Bosch Motorsport Australia Rally Championship (ARC) is known for its fast roads and intensely close competition.

For IntelliSpatial Fleetcare Racing, it also brings back fond memories from their debut at the event 12 months ago.

On that occasion, the team achieved their first Heat podium, with Alex Rullo and Steve Glenney finishing in third overall, just 19.6 seconds from the front.

Rullo and Glenney go into the event with confidence to attack the stages and get back up near the top of the field.

Across the rally’s 18 special stages, they will be aiming high to make amends for their retirements last time out.

For Peter Rullo and James Marquet, the rally poses a chance to improve on their best ARC performance, albeit in a different car.

Repairs to the Hyundai i20 N Rally2’s engine are ongoing from Victoria’s round, therefore Rullo and Marquet will be aboard a rented Skoda Fabia R5.

They competed in this car at the most recent West Australian Rally Championship round and drove a similar Skoda at Rally Sweden earlier in the season.

It’s that familiarity which will help them to be on the pace right away.

Alex Rullo/Steve Glenney (#5 Hyundai i20 N Rally2)

Alex said: “They’re really fast and wide roads in Adelaide. We had some decent speed last year and I feel like what we've learned over the past year gives us a good opportunity to really show some pace.

“In a lot of the fast rallies, you do see quite close times. Adelaide's always a pretty close rally and I'm expecting it to be pretty dicey and pretty competitive. I’m looking forward to the challenge.

“For us, it's about making sure we make really good notes of the stages over the next two days and making sure we commit to them.”

Pre-event testing for the Adelaide Hills Rally will take place at The Bend Motorsport Park, with Mt Barker the perfect place to host the rally.

A Rally Show will take place in Mt Barker on Friday evening, while more than five options are available for spectators to see the action.