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RALLY NEWS NO.3 Pickering/Service/Saturday 1.15
UNOFFICIAL LEADERBOARD AFTER STAGE 4 Cropton
1st (2) Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Lancer N) 35.41.3
2nd (4) Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis (Lancer N) 36.01.5
3rd (3) Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy (Impreza N) 36.08.1
4th (1) Ryan Champion/Craig Thorley (Impreza N) 36.31.2
5th (5) David Higgins/Ieuan Thomas (Impreza N) 36.40.7
6th (6) Phillip Morrow/Daniel Barrett (Lancer N) 37.24.3
7th (16) Danny Barry/Mark Bowens (Lancer N) 37.32.3
8th (7) Jonny Milner/Ian Windress (Lancer N) 37.56.8
9th (11) Nik Elsmore/Patrick Walsh (Lancer N) 38.01.9
10th (15) Robert Swann/Darren Garrod (Impreza N) 38.07.7
In an unremitting charge Guy Wilks in his Lancer continues to notch up fastest times on this Trackrod Rally Yorkshire. Through the first 4 stages Guy was fastest. Mark Higgins is driving hard and was 2nd fastest through stage 4 but realistically doesn’t seem to be making any impression on Wilks. Gwyndaf Evans drove brilliantly to hold on to 2nd place despite 3rd gear woes in his Lancer. Young David Bogie departed the fray when he crashed his Lancer out in stage 4. In the National Rally Steve Perez in his VK Focus WRC led the similar Ford of Paul Bird after their first couple of stages.
Last year’s winner Ryan Champion is still running first on the road and when he arrived here at service he said. “We seem to be going backwards over the last couple of stages and we don’t know why”. Guy Wilks’ co driver Phil Pugh reported. “We’re going fine, no problems, the roads and drying and it’s fast”. Mark Higgins’ co driver Rory Kennedy told us. “We just don’t seem to have the grunt of the Lancers. We are pushing not too bad, not fully on the door handles yet”.
David Higgins in 5th in the Autotek Impreza has had a trouble free run but his confidence was shaken in stage 3 when he had a close shave with a digger. David Bogie’s accident happened at a right 5 over crest when the back of his Lancer touched a bank and the car seems to have flipped. We understand driver and co driver are OK.
Phillip Morrow continues his quest to clinch the Evo Challenge but the young Ulsterman is getting it tough as his Lancer broke a front left drive shaft in stage 2 and he has had to nurse the car through the remainder of that stage and through stages 3 and 4. Phillip commented “I locked the diffs to keep some drive, and luckily the stages are fast and straight mostly so I was able to keep going at a decent speed”. Playing into Phillip’s hands in a way his closest rival for the Challenge, Sebastian Ling, suffered a puncture and also a broken drive shaft so he has lost some tine. Wyn Humphreys enjoyed the 3rd stage which is more technical than the others but reckons you need a lot of confidence on the long straight sections and crests as if you lift off the car moves about. Wyn lost a few seconds passing Bogie’s accident and also caught Sebastian Ling.
Rob Swann got his intercom fixed for stage 4, the Impreza driver reckoning his rally starts from here on. Nik Elsmore was carrying a spare intercom centre box strapped to his knee to try and counteract his int4ercom problems and Nik was also debating whether to go on a harder compound Pirelli this afternoon to take advantage of the drying roads. Young Irishman Danny Barry is still going well despite spinning his Lancer in stage 3 and then the exhaust fell off in stage 4 and the car lost a lot of power. Darren Gass had a fuel feed problem in his Citroen C2 S1600 in stage 3 but had a good go in stage 4.
The first of the Historic competitors are just arriving into service now and it looks like Dessie Nutt may have lost the championship. The Castlerock GP reported a puncture on the opening stage and he ran for 2 or 3 miles on the flat wheel, then he had a good run making up time but in stage 8 caught Patrick Watts who was struggling with a mechanical problem, and it took a while for Patrick to find a wide spot to pull into. This delayed Dessie and it took like his team mate Stuart Rolt, also in a Porsche 911, has won the class and the category which will deprive Dessie of the championship. This has to be confirmed.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
