Speed and Consistency Won Title Says Jagger
Monday 21 September 2009, 3:59PM
By Little Devil Entertainment
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Whangarei driver Ben Jagger was awarded the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship Group N 2WD title on Sunday.
He along with co-driver Ben Hawkins secured the points needed after a fourth place in Saturday's leg one at Rally Nelson with one day of the final contest remaining.
The weekend's rally was the last of a five round battle with the championship being contested at Hawkes Bay, Otago, Whangarei, Wairarapa and finally Nelson.
Jagger then went on to place first in Sunday's leg two which gave him second overall at the rally in the two wheel drive Ford Fiesta class.
He finished the season with a clear win of 319 points over second placed Ben Hunt with a staggering 88 point buffer between them.
Along with the 2009 title Ben Jagger has won a confirmed position in the Rising Stars Scholarship shoot-out taking place in Maramarua Forest this November 2009 and also the International Ford Fiesta Trophy shoot-out in the United Kingdom held December 2009.
At the Rising Stars Shoot-out he will compete against two other drivers for $50,000 worth of sponsorship from Motorsport New Zealand allocated towards the 2010 season in the national rally championship where Jagger plans to compete in the top level Group N 4WD class.
He was awarded the entry by having the highest amount of points towards the scheme and the final winner will be decided by taking into account not only speed in the car but the manner in which the successful driver conducts himself as a rally driver, sportsman and future ambassador of the sport.
In December at the United Kingdom contest if Jagger wins the International Fiesta Trophy shoot-out he will earn himself one year's employment with M-Sport working inside the team who will be campaigning two Ford Focus "works" rally cars in the World Rally Championship.
Over the year the successful driver will expect to undertake various duties within to learn the operation of the world class rally team.
M-Sport's number one driver Mikko Hirvonen is currently leading the WRC with their number two Jari-Matti Latvala in fourth place - there are two rallies remaining this season in the international contest.
Nineteen year old Ben Jagger and the entire team were very pleased with their result and how the NZ Rally Championship had gone for them.
"We set out at the start of this season to finish every rally and score as many points as we could. We have done that this year and with a mixture of consistency and speed have managed to win the championship. The skills which I learned at the Elite Motorsport Academy earlier this year have also contributed to our successful season and will help me in the future." he said.
Ben Jagger along with co-driver Ben Hawkins contested their rookie season last year in the SeedForce Fiesta placing second.
This year Jagger and Hawkins claimed the championship title with an impressive line up of results made up of two wins and three second places.
Next year the team plan to compete in the four wheel drive class but at this stage are undecided on Subaru or Mitsubishi and have some test drives lined up before making their decision.