text: Brendo will head to New Zealand next month to contest the Rally of Whangarei in a Ford Fiesta. The 19 year old and his co-driving sister, Rhianon Smyth, will drive a Fiesta from Kayne Barrie Motorsport and will compete in the popular Fiesta Sporting Trophy series.
  {mosimage}Despite his young age, Brendo has a vast amount of rally experience, having contested the Australian Rally Championship in 2007 in a Les Walkden-backed Subaru Impreza WRX. His results included four top ten finishes from six starts in the Championship, with a best placing of third outright – a remarkable performance in his rookie year.
  Keen to develop as an all-round driver, Brendo has also competed in the tarmac Mt. Buller Sprint and Rallye Burnie, where he finished second to tarmac ace, Jim Richards.
  Brendo and Rhianon are looking forward to their New Zealand advernture. They will travel to new Zealand for the June 7 and 8 event and hope to do well enough to receive assistance to contest the Pirelli Star Driver round in Malaysia later in the year.
  “Rhianon and I are really looking forward to rallying in New Zealand in the Fiesta," Brendo said. "We've worked really hard, with the assistance of Kayne Barrie, to get this deal together, and can't wait to get over there and try out the awesome New Zealand roads that we’ve heard so much about. It will be a real blast!”
  Brendo and Rhianon are being supported in Rally Whangarei by RallySchool.com.au, Kayne Barrie Motorsport, Reeves Racing, Trade Tools and Genuine Vehicle Imports.