Brad Markovic has announced today he will not compete at the next round of the Australian Rally Championship in Canberra next month.
The West Australian, who is locked in a battle for the ARC2 crown with Victorian Glen Raymond, recently sold his production-based Subaru WRX STI and is now looking at his options for a new car. And that includes the possibility of moving up to an R5 category rally car.
“It’s pretty clear the series has moved up a level, in terms of what you need to be competitive for outright victory. We’ve seen the AP4 cars come in over the last couple of years, and now the R5 cars are starting to appear”, Markovic commented earlier this week.
“We’ll take our time to look at what cars are available. I’d rather miss a round than make a quick decision and end up going down the wrong path.”
“At the moment I’ll definitely miss the Canberra round, and we’ll look to rejoin the series later in the year.”
“What we’ve managed to achieve in our production-based Subaru has been great. But the series has moved on, so we need to move on with it. It’s an expensive sport. It costs a lot in terms of money, time and effort. And I don’t want to be competing just to finish. We’ve had some podium places in the past. I want to taste that success again and start to challenge for round wins.”
The break will also allow Markovic time for his body to heal following back surgery in 2017. “My back has been pretty good, but it does take a bit of a beating during each ARC round. One or two rounds away from the rally car won’t do it any harm!”
Brad Markovic is supported by Auto One, Castrol, Supercharge Batteries, R-Group International, Westfil, P1 Raceware, Modena Engineering, Maximum Motorsport, Subaru Motorsport Parts, Xtreme Clutch, and Mean Mother.
