Finally I'm sitting writing this blog with a big smile on my face, our first WRC Academy win, and what better way to get it but with another nail biting finish. This was the first asphalt round of the WRC Academy, and I was keen to try and get a good result amid the European tarmac experts within the Academy. After our test at the Stonethrowers rally back home, I was confident in both myself and the car before the demanding German stages. The recce was excellent. We made really good pacenotes, and I found the stages enjoyable, and quite easy to read. On Thursday we had a Shakedown, and again I was really please with the setup. Friday was a tough day, as anticipated, Spanish driver Yeray Lemes was the man to beat, but we slotted comfortably into second place. We were not able to match Yeray on the early stages, but towards the end of the day, we were able to come a little closer, and even after a scare when we touched a kerb on the final test of Leg 1, we were 30 seconds behind, with a massive amount of mileage the following day.
On the first stage of Leg 2, we dropped a little time to Yeray, but on the next test, Yeray went off the road and dropped 50 seconds, we were in the lead! I knew from then I had to pull something out of the bag, and we responded. We took a further 1.7 seconds on the following stage, and the fight was now on, now leading by 17 seconds. Yeray took a further 5 seconds on the first run of Panzerplatte, but with a stage requiring so much knowledge, I was happy to be so close to him considering it was our first time. We went to service for some new tires, and a repeat of the mornings stages lay ahead.
We had new pads and discs fitted for the second loop, and unfortunately, they didn't bed in properly on the run out, and stuck on over the test. We dropped 6 seconds to Yeray, and our lead was down to 6 seconds. It took a couple of K's to get the brakes freed up in the next stage, but with a good clean run, we opened the gap back up to 10 seconds heading into the penultimate test. Yeray pipped us by 1.3 on the penultimate stage to bring down it to the wire on the final Panzerplatte stage. Panzerplatte based in the German Army range in Baumholder, is a classic tarmac rally stage. This year it was 35Km in length and was so demanding. With over 120 junctions and varying surfaces, I knew with only 8 seconds in hand, it was going to have to be maximum attack! We pushed incredibly hard, on the limit everywhere, and crossing the finish, I had a feeling that we had done enough. Approaching the stop car we saw World Rally Radio’s Colin Clark jumping and pointing at us, and we knew we had done it! We took 5 seconds back, and our first WRC Academy win! It was overwhelming, so much effort, being close at every round so far, and eventually it had all paid off. But now, knowing what this feeling is like, I’m going to push harder, and prepare better, and be stronger, this feeling is amazing and I want it again, its an addiction!
However, we had no time to celebrate, as we headed straight to the Czech Republic for the Barum Rally Zlin, and back into the S2000. We had a great test near Bela on the Monday, although the weather was quite harsh, it was great to be back in the car, and the feeling was great. Our recce again was perfect, and I was confident heading into the weekend. We were 10th quickest in shakedown, further boosting my confidence.
We took it very steady over the super special in Zlin, aware that the kerbs that lined the stage could end my rally instantly, I was happy to make it round and ended the day 26th. Saturday started with a loop of four challenging stages. We started steady and increased our speed little by little over the next few stage. During the 29Km Trojak stage, it became apparent that we were on too soft a tyre for the stages and 40 degree heat, and would need a change of compound for the second loop. With that in mind, we got through the remaining stages and got back to service for a change to a harder compound. We headed back out for the second loop of same stages, already having moved up to 11th overall, and looking to improve. We had a steady run on the first one out, moving up two positions to 9th and confident that the tires were going to be better as the loop went on. We stayed in 9th for the next, and a big push over the repeat of Trojak stage pushed us up to 8th, with a 6th overall stage time! At last, making big progress! A 5th fastest time on the last stage brought us home in 8th overall ahead of leg 2, brilliant.
We started a little slow on Sunday morning, dropping back to 11th, but still all to play for. We had a great run on the last stage of the loop, and we were back up to7th, close stuff! Another repeat of the same loop, and now we were looking a little more comfortable. Toni Gardemiester was too far ahead realistically to catch, and we had a good gap behind, so the name of the game was to finish. However on the middle stage, Toni received a 10 second penalty for a jump start, and suddenly we started the last stage with Toni in our grasp. We tried to push, but unfortunately, the afternoon temperatures had raised a little too high for our compound, and around mid way through the stage we started to loose grip in the rear, and had to back off. I knew I had done all I could, and altghough we took a good chunk of time from Toni, it wasn't enough to get 6th.
But hey, 7th overall on my first proper IRC rally, what more could I ask for?! On such a challenging event, I was hoping to be getting close to the top 10 at the end of the event, but we were pushing hard from day 1, it was perfect.
This has now lead to a run in RACC Rally Spain in the SWRC class, but that's as much as I can say for now, watch this space!
So, a great month. A perfect month perhaps! Finally all our hard work is paying off and the results are coming, so hopefully it will continue when we get to France for the next round of the WRC Academy, we can still do this!
Anyway, in the mean time, keep an eye to my twitter, and keep the race in its place!
Craig
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