WHEN Ballarat Secondary School teacher Rhianon Smyth and her hard-driving brother Brendan Reeves went to New Zealand to contest a round of the World Rally Championship, they were hoping to bring a trophy back in their

class.

But winning three trophies, a medal, and finishing number one in the world in the two-wheel-drive category? That was a delightful surprise, said Smyth, who performs the difficult role of navigator.

"On Friday we had an awesome day and were in front of the other Ford Fiestas in our class by 11 minutes," she said.

"We were winning and our two main competitors in our class both had problems.

"At that stage we didn't even think about winning the two-wheel-drive class of the WRC (World Rally Championship), but once we knew we were a chance to do that, it became our main focus."

Reeves and Smyth's 25th overall in Rally New Zealand out of about 100 cars (fifth outright among those entered in the New Zealand Rally Championship) was the highest placing in a WRC round so far by any competitor in a

Ford Fiesta.

The pair beat teams with far bigger budgets using all-wheel-drive, turbocharged machines like Mitsubishi Lancer EVOs and Subaru WRXs. They were the highest placed Australians in the event after international WRC driver

Chris Atkinson failed to finish.

Reeves and Smyth had their own mechanic woes during the rally, though.

Even though Reeves and Smyth over-achieved in New Zealand they are yet to find out if they have done enough to earn a wildcard entry into the British Ford Fiesta Trophy series.