Christchurch crew Tim Smith and Brett Maddren have taken out the 2023 Otago Classic 4wd rally, after a measured drive through the grand finale - the 15.05km classic Kuri Bush. Smith lost time to both Paul Cross (second) and James Macdonald (third) - the latter beating the former by 17.6 seconds, with a further 15.4 seconds back to Smith. Smith ends the rally with a 1:17.3 buffer over Paul Cross, after Tom Bond withdrew early on day 2. James MacDonald, who'd lost time on day one and pushed hard to make up the deficit throughout the remainder of the weekend, closed the gap to Cross to a respectable 23.2 seconds.
Tom Milliken, Amy Keighley, Nick Marston and Luis King make up the remainder of the class finishers, with Olympian Sarah Walker completing stages 14 and 15 after a mishap in stage 10.
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