06/09/2026
Official results have been published
🏁 R.S MOTORSPORTS – Rally Tasmania Regularity Rally Report
Second Overall in a Day of Highs, Lows and Plenty of Precision
R.S MOTORSPORTS headed into the latest Rally Tasmania Regularity Rally with the Hyundai Excel ready for another crack at the series, and what followed was a challenging day of roads, changing conditions and some seriously tight regularity competition.
With 8 stages on the schedule, the goal was simple — be as close as possible to the nominated times without getting caught out.
Easier said than done!
A solid start
The opening stages saw Rob Sheppard and Keegan Buckley settle into the event nicely.
After the first three stages, the Excel was sitting right in the fight at the front of the field with just 11 penalty points on the board.
The Subaru Impreza of Leigh Ford and Nick Browne had jumped out to an early lead on 7 points, with Madeleine Prentice and Sophie Nichols just one point behind the Excel.
There wasn't much separating the leading crews, so every second was going to count.
Then came SS11… 😳 an awesome track created by the North West Car Club with an unrealistic time set for regularity no one was going to achieve a perfect zero, it was fun to just drive without having to worry about being too fast.
The second half of the event certainly wasn't going to make things easy.
After building a strong position through the first few stages, SS11 proved to be the big one for the Excel, with Rob and Keegan picking up 33 penalty points on the stage.
Not exactly what we'd planned!
But instead of letting one bad stage derail the day, the crew knuckled down and concentrated on getting the car back into the rhythm.
And the response was pretty impressive.
The perfect response
The final four stages saw Rob and Keegan produce an excellent run home:
SS12 – 1 point
SS13 – 0 points 🟢
SS14 – 1 point
SS15 – 1 point
That's just 3 penalty points across the final four stages, including a perfect ZERO on SS13.
Exactly the sort of consistency required in regularity rallying.
🥈 SECOND OVERALL!
When the final scores were added up, Rob Sheppard and Keegan Buckley brought the Hyundai Excel home in 2nd Overall, finishing the 8-stage event with 47 penalty points.
The final classification:
🥇 1st – Leigh Ford / Nick Browne – Subaru Impreza RS – 38 pts
🥈 2nd – Rob Sheppard / Keegan Buckley – Hyundai Excel – 47 pts
🥉 3rd – Madeleine Prentice / Sophie Nichols – Subaru Impreza – 69 pts
4️⃣ Nathan Whittle / Conner Scheffer – Mitsubishi Lancer – 82 pts
5️⃣ Peter Roberts / Suzanne Atkins – Audi A3 – 86 pts
6️⃣ Brett Williams / Hannah Williams – Subaru Forester – 63 pts*
7️⃣ Roger Carter / Adrian Hodgetts – Holden Commodore Ute – 118 pts
8️⃣ Trent Kapena / Flinders Kapena-Laing – BMW 318i – 136 pts
Brett Williams/Hannah Williams are shown as n/r in the supplied provisional results, so their 63-point score is not treated as a classified overall finish.
Another strong result for the Excel
Finishing just 9 points off the overall win is a result we're pretty happy with, particularly after the big hit on SS11 7 points off 1st place for that stage.
The little Excel continues to prove that you don't need the biggest or fastest car in the field to be competitive.
In regularity rallying, it's all about the crew, the car and hitting those times as accurately as possible.
And when Rob and Keegan got it right, they were very right — three consecutive one-point stages either side of a perfect zero to finish the rally.
A massive thanks to Keegan Buckley for another great job in the co-driver's seat, and to everyone who continues to support R.S MOTORSPORTS.
8 stages.
47 penalty points.
1 perfect zero.
🥈 2nd Overall.
Not a bad day out for the little Excel! 🏁💪
Bring on the next rally! 🔥
