The bond between driver and co-driver is often likened to a marriage – but really it’s even stronger, as there’s far less harmony in a marriage!
Richo Healey and Michelle Miller have been harmony personified during this season’s American Rally Association campaign, as Healey has continued to bely his experience behind the wheel to lead the competitive L2WD class – ably guided by his old DirtFish instructor Miller.
Extending their relationship from the classroom to special stages, DirtFish Rally School graduate Healey hit the ground running last season with a class win on just his second ever rally start in his Lexus IS 250 – choosing to take Miller with him after striking up a brilliant bond in-class.
More class wins have followed this year, but their sweetest was unquestionably last weekend’s Ojibwe Forest Rally where the Australian-American pairing defeated Roberto Yglesias’s Ford Fiesta ST by just 0.4 seconds after over two-and-a-half hours of driving!
“We came into the last stage just behind, but we also knew we’d beaten him twice on that stage already – it was a really good stage for us,” Miller remembers.
“We’ve seen Roberto when he needs to get points he can put down a flyer, so we just did our best drive [and managed to win].
“That joy from all of us at the end was really a highlight of the weekend. I’ve known Roberto a long time – he’s been a student here as well and I’ve rode with him – so fighting with him has been great!”
It’s a win that cements their position as the favorites for the class title in 2024, but sadly wasn’t enough for Michelle to usurp her husband Chris’ previous achievement.
“My husband [won] at Oregon two years ago… he let me know that he had a narrower gap [at 0.2s]!” she laughs.
“Now I know how he felt, no wonder he talked about that for two weeks straight because I’m probably going to go and do the same thing!”
Listen to Michelle’s recap of that extraordinary class win, the rest of the goings on in Ojibwe and her season so far with Brenten Kelly on this week’s edition of SPIN, The Rally Pod.
