In the end, the vacation wasn’t so much of a vacation. Brandon Semenuk is a man of detail. Detailed details. And driving a rally car – whether he’s on holiday or not – demands the only approach he knows: dedication.
With Saturday’s opening leg of last week’s Otago Rally done by mid-afternoon, there was the suggestion of a swift half to reflect on what had been a great day’s sport. Semenuk and co-driver Keaton Williams politely declined. They would be spending the afternoon and evening working on their notes, watching and re-watching the onboard from their recce.
“It’s a rally,” Williams explained. “Nothing changes. We have a process we follow and we’re following that process.”
Semenuk smiles, “Yeah, maybe it’s not really like a vacation, but when you have the chance to drive these roads…”
The point was made. Regardless of circumstance, nothing changes. And when you’ve come to the other end of the earth, you make the most of what you’ve got. But, beyond enjoying those roads, did Semenuk actually learn anything from his time aboard a Magnum Motorsport-run Subaru Impreza H6?
As he prepares for this weekend’s Olympus Rally presented by DirtFish, is his knowledge bank further into the black following his Kiwi adventure?
“Yeah, definitely,” is the response. “All seat time is going to pay off, but it’s not just from the driving standpoint – we were getting a view of new roads and new pacenotes. It’s all good practice and I’m sure there were takeaways for when we jump into the factory car for Olympus.
“The roads in New Zealand were incredible, just what we’d hoped for. I would love to come back and drive some of the others, maybe the stages in the North Island where the WRC round was, it would be great to compare and contrast those roads to the ones used in Otago.”
Semenuk made the most of chance to drive Impreza H6 on New Zealand roads
Would he go back to Otago?
“Sure,” is the immediate answer. “I would love to have the chance to bring the factory car down here and drive these roads in that one. Keaton and I enjoyed what we did and the H6 is a great club car, but it would be great to be back and to attack the roads, to make the notes tailored for a quicker car.”
Talking of the factory car, the pair are back to it in Washington this week. They’re chasing a third straight win this season – a task potentially made more straightforward by team-mate Travis Pastrana being sidelined from competition while a hip injury heals.
“Olympus is definitely in the top three of the ARA events for me,” said Semenuk. “I’ve done this one for a number of years and I love it. There’s lots of mileage coming this weekend and, in so many ways, it feels like watching Rally GB – you know, like you get the weather, you get the fog; it might be really dry and hard on tires and it’s always a mixed bag and always really tricky.”
And the Pacific Northwest location’s not bad either.
“The roads are close to home for me,” he said. “I’m only four or five hours away and the stages are really familiar. And this is a good, real rally community as well. Obviously DirtFish is close by, you get lots of locals out. You also get a lot of Canadians out from the west coast, the field is always good and quite competitive. I think we’re in for another good Olympus Rally.”
