While braking system gremlins forced them to retire while they were leading the race, the Bendigo pair were buoyed by the rally community’s overwhelming support for their campaign to highlight the White Ribbon Foundation values.

"This year, it's not all about winning for us," said Middleton, who co-drove for her partner when they won the 2013 Victorian Rally Championship.

The Penhall Motorsport team entered the first race of the Victorian Noted Rally Series with the aim of helping to bring an end to violence against women and children.

Their Subaru WRX, backed by Innes Motors, was decked out in special livery featuring white ribbon logos and their anti-violence slogan.

"We had a total of 47 people swear the White Ribbon oath on the day, which is more than we expected from the first event of the series,” Middleton said. “And by the end of the day, a majority of rally cars were displaying the White Ribbon stickers in a show of their support to end violence against women."

The couple had no intercom early in the East Gippsland race and lost time on the first stage, but came back to win two stages.

Their luck ran out heading into special stage seven, when the rear brakes locked and they left the road and ended beached on a rock.

But Penhall was upbeat.

"This is the first opportunity we've had to compare ourselves against some of the top rally drivers in Australia - such as Brendan Reeves, Eli Evans and Justin Dowell - and we were rapt to see we could be competitive," he said.

The pair will next race at Rally Victoria near Warragul in November, in an event incorporated into the final round of the Australian Rally Championship.

"We hope our reach will be even further and we'll have even more people taking a stand against violence," Middleton said.

Rally Victoria organisers  support the campaign and are including the White Ribbon logo on compulsory event door signage put on all competing vehicles.