Ben Jagger New Zealand Rally Championship

The opening round of the New Zealand Rally Championship at the Rally of Hawkes Bay over the weekend went very well for Whangarei driver Ben Jagger who finished with a strong second place in the Group N Two Wheel Drive section.

The national championship is divided into Group N Four Wheel Drive, the two wheel drive Ford Fiesta class and an open class.

Last season in the SeedForce Fiesta, Jagger along with co-driver Ben Hawkins claimed second place in the championship's Group N2 class in their rookie season.

At Hawkes Bay although Jagger put in a very respectable drive staying ahead of the three hot young newcomers Ben Hunt, Daniel Harris and Dominick Unterberger he and Hawkins were unable to keep on pace with last year's champion Patrick Malley.

The Auckland driver won the round at the weekend in the two wheel drive Ford Fiesta class with Jagger and the team now looking for reasons as to why they were unable to make any impact on his lead at the rally.

"I think I was a bit slow getting going with the new notes which we are using now which has changed things a bit but we were more on the pace on Sunday even beating Patrick on one stage - we are wondering about the car being down on power after we overheated it in the Waitangi Forest working with Alister but it seems to feel the same as before."

Looking at every avenue the team will firstly check the SeedForce Fiesta and it's power output after it went through some intensive sessions before the season's opener at the weekend.

"Patrick is going really quick and we can't really work out why because last season he and Ben were constantly trading fastest times." said team manager Murray Jagger.

"We will be having the car checked out but also Ben is developing his driving style after working with Alister McRae before Hawkes Bay so that may be holding him back a bit - but once he gets on top of that he will just get quicker and quicker through the season." said Mr Jagger.

"After getting some pointers we are a lot smoother and not having so many 'moments' as we used to have." said Ben Jagger.

The placing has given Jagger a strong start to the five round national championship and after Hawkes Bay he is second only to Patrick Malley in points for the brand new Rally NZ Rising Star Award.

For the new award aimed at helping drivers succeed in the sport they work at accumulating points from a nominated four rallies which must include the Rally of Whangarei and the Possum Bourne Rally.

Those points go towards the winning of the award which offers the recipient a $50,000 sponsorship package for next season.

After the two day event of the Rally of Hawkes Bay, Ben Jagger and the team head home to Whangarei scratching their heads but happy with their weekend result of second and expecting to be strong at Otago and also at their home event the Rally of Whangarei.

Co-driver Ben Hawkins was not so worried at their pace in regard to Patrick Malley at the weekend.

"Patrick was flying at Hawkes Bay but he has been fast there in the past and we have been faster at other rallies like at the Rally of New Zealand last year when we were much quicker." said Hawkins.

Team manager Murray Jagger was happy to be taking the SeedForce Fiesta home in good condition and expects some good results from the two Bens amid tough competition from the others which includes three newcomers into the class.

"It was a good rally for us and we had no issues - it's going to be a very good season and very competitive once all these new young ones get up to speed - Rally of Whangarei is going to be very exciting I think." said Mr Jagger.

However the duo were hindered early on Sunday where an incident going through a ford added over a minute to their time when water came flying in to the cockpit via the air vents!

"A whole lot of water came through our vents and then fogged up the windscreen so all I could do was crawl up the road until it cleared up and I could see again - that cost us over a minute." said Jagger.

After one round Ben Jagger is in second place to Patrick Malley with 58 points to 74.

Next up for Ben Jagger and Ben Hawkins is the Rally of Otago 16-17th May followed by the Rally of Whangarei 5-7th June.

Jagger won the Rally of Otago last year moving into the lead in the New Zealand Rally Championship's N2 class and holding on to it with a strong second place at Whangarei finally finishing as runner up to Patrick Malley after six rounds.