Debut success for new all female team

Published: Monday June 21 2021
Success comes in many forms but for Brisbane locals Michelle and Kass, it means more than a podium finish. Winner of the 2017 QLD Rally Championship Novice Co-Driver and 2019 QLD Rally Championship Novice Driver, Michelle Van Der Wilk welcomes Rally newbie Kassandra Brumley to the J&S Rally

Success comes in many forms but for Brisbane locals Michelle and Kass, it means more than a podium finish.

Winner of the 2017 QLD Rally Championship Novice Co-Driver and 2019 QLD Rally Championship Novice Driver, Michelle Van Der Wilk welcomes Rally newbie Kassandra Brumley to the J&S Rally Team as Co-Driver.

Michelle and Kass first met through Race Chix Motorsport, a networking forum for women interested in all forms of motorsport. Both grew up with a passion for motorsports and are now first generation Rally Competitors.

The ladies have spent countless hours training together as a team, with Michelle training Kass on all things Co-Driver including time cards, control procedures, road books as well as reading and writing pacenotes and after taking part in Brisbane Sporting Car Club’s Future Auto Rally Test and Tune in February to ensure Kass was comfortable in the car at speed, the ladies entered the Accent Benchtops Queensland Rally Championship Clubman Series held in Gympie on May 22nd.

This was Kass’ first competitive event, first time calling pacenotes at competition speeds as well as dealing with booking into time controls and her first time using RallySafe.

In an event full of unforgiving and technical stages designed to challenge even the most experienced ARC competitors, the Ladies finished 4th in the Clubman Series and 30th Outright.

“Being a new event and a new pairing we took it a little easy wanting to get through all the stages and give Kass as much seat time as possible. I am very impressed with how Kass performed in the car and her commitment to the training we have done. I’m looking forward to watching our times get faster throughout the year” Michelle said at the end of the event.

Sponsored by iCar Service Kallangur, the pair compete in a 1996 Subaru Impreza known as George.

With round 4 of the Harcourts Solutions Queensland Rally Championship in Munduberra being another pacenoted event, the ladies have entered the upcoming KCF Rallysport Winter Stages to continue building on their pace noting skills. The KCF Rallysport Winter Stages Event will be held in the Benarkin area on July 17th, and run by the very experienced Brisbane Sporting Car Club.

Spectators will be welcome at this event with more details at www.bscc.asn.au

To find out more about the team, find them on Instagram – @jayands_rally or Facebook – www.facebook.com/jayandsrally/