Danny Brown and George Apted are revved up and set to defend their 2013 ARB Off Road Racing Series title as round one of the 2014 series swings into action this weekend at the ARB Paringa Desert 400.

Brown, who took out last year’s title in an Extreme 2WD trophy truck, has moved to Pro class in his recently purchased ex John Hederics Jimco. “We picked up the Jimco only two weeks ago and since then have been busy making minor changes and going over the car to get familiar with it. We still running the 3.5 litre twin turbo Nissan that John ran in it for this year” Danny Brown explained.

With 63 confirmed starters, Brown and Apted will have their work cut out for them as the strong field of contenders converges on Paringa Station, 50km north of Broken Hill.

Brown continued “I made the decision to move back into a buggy at the end of last season; the truck has been awesome and is quite easy to look after maintenance wise, but if you want to go out and win outright you can’t really do it in anything less than a twin turbo buggy. After driving the truck as hard and as clean as we could last year we just couldn’t match the speed needed to be out the front.”

“We had a ball racing last year and want to continue that on defending the series win this year. We’re looking forward to getting to Broken Hill and learning the new car, we had intentions of testing the car before Broken Hill but have run out of time; it looks like reconnaissance will be all the time we will get in the car before the flag drops.”

The team have also announced new and ongoing partnership with Toyo Tires stepping up as a major naming rights sponsor of the car along with Milwaukee Tools. “We are also joined this year by Go Pro, Rockwell Watches, Hart and Huntington, ARB 4x4 Accessories and PWR. The whole team are excited and looking forward to the 2014 ARB Off Road Racing Series.”

“I think this year again we have the determination, crew, sponsors and car to fully defend our 2013 series win.”