As the BFGoodrich CAMS Australian Off Road Championship heads to the Northern Territory for the second round of the 2019 season, see what some of the competitors had to say about the iconic Tatts Desert Finke Race.
Mark Burrows
Finke is huge for Australia and overseas. It’s great that it’s part of the national series because it’s iconic and it’s like our Bathurst. Everyone in an off road car wants to win Finke and I have been lucky enough to do it a few times. I am looking forward to it.
2018 result: Eighth outright
Toby Whateley
Finke is one of those courses that you never know what is going to happen. All we can do is try and get the best result we can. The whoops are the best part, I enjoy just belting across them and feeling like I’m sailing.
2018 result: 15th outright
Simon Evans
The whoops at Finke are crazy. Everyone told me the road would blow me away and I must admit, when we drove down the roads ahead of the race last year, I could see what they meant – wouldn’t even call them roads. Hopefully this year we are a lot smarter going into Finke because we have a lot more respect for it.
2018 result: DNF
Hans Werner Zettl
Finke is very challenging, when you’re out there on your own. It’s a real challenge. My favourite part is the lead up to it and the hype surrounding it. It’s very different to other events.
2018 result: N/A
Beau Robinson
Finke is the ultimate off road race for us, especially in Australia. Even the Americans talk about Finke, it’s a special one again this year. This year we are trying to win it because we are yet to do so. Most of the boys have won one so far, we are trying to go there and finally break the drought.
2018 result: DNF
Ally Howells
The reason Finke is so special is because of the people and the atmosphere. You are in the middle of Australia and you get thousands people come and embrace the event. It’s such a challenge and a great event to be apart of.
2018 result: 28th outright
Phil Lovett
This will be my 27th time doing Finke, the fourth time in the cars. I know the track pretty well. Our hope is to be at the top end of the class and to finish the event. Since I have been in the car, I have only finished one race out of the three. I think I need to take a step back and get a little steadier.
2018 result: DNF
Shannon Rentsch
It gets bigger every year, the town and the event itself put on a great show and what they have built it up to be is what every event around the country would strive to be. The track seems to get tougher every year. It seems to get rougher too. It’s hard to win so we hopefully we can do it.
2018 Result: Winner
Steve Graham
We are quite excited because there was not too much wrong with the car after St George. We have done Finke a few times now and had a really good run last year where we finished 12th. We will be going back this year with the goal of doing a little bit better.
2018 result: 12th outright
Nick Jackson
I am really looking forward to it. We made it up and down there last year in our little old car. Hopefully in our new one we can just sit up on the whoops a little bit better. The aim will be to finish it. I think it’s just an achievement to finish Finke.
2018 result: 58th
