More of the black stuff!

Hi everyone,

So, lots of tarmac recently, however it didn't start off to well! We traveled to the Jim Clark Rally in May, my first tarmac outing this year, and I was really looking forward to it. I only got a very brief run in the car at shakedown, but it felt great to be back in a front-wheel drive car on tar. We had six stages that evening, two small blasts around Duns Street stage, and two over the moors of Bothwell and Abbey St Bathans. We had a great night, even setting a time good enough for 5th overall on the first run through Abbey! We ended the night 7th overall and 2nd in Formula 2, very happy with our work. We started day two on a familiar stage, Polwarth and again we set the pace in R2, and 7th overall. SS8 however spelled the end, on a medium speed left hander the rear of the car got a little light, spun round and we hit the ditch on the inside, minimal damage, but a broken radiator put us out. I was really dissapointed, fellow WRC Academy driver Alastair Fisher was just starting to get into a good stride and setting great times, so it would have been a great way to get a benchmark for Germany and France, but it was not to be. Alastair went on the win R2 and the Fiesta Sport Trophy, well done to him.

We hadn't much time to dwell however, Tom and his team had the car repaired in a day, and we were off to France. Rallye du Ronde Limousin, a round of the FFSA Rally Championship based in Limoges, central France. . Held over two days with a total of six stages the event was held in central France. Friday evening saw us take on two stages, the first was 23kms and the second was a short 2.34 super special. I was seeded at 136^th but from the off, I moved up the 41^st and over night held 2^nd in R2. Saturday, day two was made up of four stages, nothing special there but the rally was defined by Ronde de Vassiviere stage at 47.3km which was taken on 4 times. Over the first pass I took over the lead in R2 and moved up to 36^th overall. Stage 4 was cancelled but stage 5 saw us move up to 24^th overall and extend our class lead. With the final stage also being cancelled, we rounded off the good day with a class win and 24^th overall. I was really happy with this rally. The FFSA championship is the home of Front-Wheel drive rallying, the best there is. We won our class comfortably, and we even set a time on Stage 5, good enough for 11^th O/A! We had proved our speed on a specialized surface like European Asphalt, we’re moving the right way.

So now, we're back in the big boys car, the S2000 is out for "The Rock". The Ravens Rock is on the weekend, my local rally, and I can't wait! It's been 4 months since I drove the car last, and 8 months since I've driven it on Tarmac at the Cork "20" last year. We've been seeded car 1 on the road, which I am truly honored by. However to return to Kilkenny on Sunday evening still number one will be close to impossible considering the line up behind me. I've got four top of the range Subaru WRC cars breathing down my neck, led by winner of last weekends Donegal International Rally Tim McNulty. However, it's purely an experience excercise for me, and I'll be happy once I make some more progress on Sunday.

That's all for now, keep an eye out on twitter, as always!

Craig