Richard Mason has won his first stage of the Hawke’s Bay Rally and has taken second place overall.
Mason drove the BNT Subaru Impreza WRX STi through the second Hereheretau stage six seconds faster than Brett Martin (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) to take the stage win and pass Chris West (Evo 9) for second place overall.
Mason now has a 4.4-second margin over West and had closed to less than 15 seconds behind rally leader Hayden Paddon (Evo 9). Paddon had won the event’s first three special stages.
Going into the test, Mason had been more than 27 seconds behind the South Canterbury fastman.
West was third on SS4, and Paddon fourth, 13 seconds slower than Mason.
Evo 9 driver Dean Sumner was fifth-quickest.
