Reeves to rally in ‘the middle of everywhere’ this weekend

Fifty-two cars have entered this weekend’s The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally and amongst them will be Brendan Reeves in his Datsun 1600.

Reeves will return to the Gippsland Rally after an impressive performance in last year’s event which saw him take both the Classic Cup and 2WD honours and finish 6th outright.

For this year’s event, Reeves will be joined by his brother-in-law, Alex Gelsomino, for the first time, as they tackle the stages around Heyfield in Victoria’s far east.

The Gippsland Rally will serve as both a round of the Australian Rally Championship and the Victorian Rally Championship (VRC) and it’s the latter series that Reeves will contest.

As well as having a long break between rallies, it’s been ten months since Reeves’ last pace noted event so the time spent with Gelsomino refining the pace notes has been worthwhile.

“It’s great to have the chance to do a rally with Alex,” Reeves said.  “He loves co-driving in classic cars and he loves the more relaxed style of VRC rallies so we’re looking forward to having a lot of fun.”

Gelsomino’s wife, Rhianon, who is Reeves’ sister and former co-driver, will also compete in the event.  She will co-drive for Gandewa Sanders in the Production Cup class of the Australian Rally Championship.  Reeves will be taking plenty of notice of Sanders’ speed as he acts as a driving mentor for the up and coming driver.

The Middle of Everywhere Gippsland Rally will be based out of Heyfield and the Victorian Rally Championship component will feature four stages which will be repeated twice.  Reconnaissance for the rally will be held on Friday, 25 August with the event to take place the following day.

“I really enjoy driving on the roads around Heyfield,” Reeves said. “The roads are quite narrow with lots of uphill and downhill sections.

“The stages are fast and you really need to commit to your pace notes as the twisty roads mean you often can’t see what’s up ahead.”

“We’re confident our Pirelli tyres will be up to the challenge this weekend.”

Photo: Wishart Media