Thursday 27 October 2011

Busy busy busy!

Hi all,
Okay, a series of ups and bitter downs this month, but still here with a smile!
We had Rally de France Alsace up first, and the penultimate round of the FIA WRC Academy. We were feeling really confident heading to the event. We put massive preparation into the event, ensuring no stone was left unturned, and I felt better than ever. Our recce was great, and the event started as a reflection of our preparation, perfect. We were a little slow on the first stage, bedding ourselves in, then from there, we put the hammer down. On the longest 35Km stage, we were quickest in the FIA WRC Academy by 23 seconds! We had a puncture on SS6 which knocked our lead back to 18 seconds, but by the end of the day we were back to a 24 second lead, perfect.
We had new brake pads fitted for Sunday morning, a routine operation, but there was to be a problem with the brakes on the first stage. The brakes were sticking on, and on the uphill sections the car was struggling badly, and I was sure I'd loose loads of time. I was a little surprised to learn that we only dropped 7 seconds to second place driver Yeray Lemes. So with the brakes fixed for the next one, we battled on. We settled into an excellent rhythm on the next one, and were quickest on the splits by a perfect margin, just a few seconds, all we needed to score stage win points. However it was all to no avail. On a very fast section downhill before a slow left hander, Gareth got a little out of time with his pacenote delivery and I couldn't slow the car in time by the time I heard the call, and we touched the bank on the outside. It was minimal damage, but we broke a driveshaft, game over. To be fair, Gareth has been a massive asset to my career to date, and the mistake he made could have happened to anyone. He's one of the best around, and was straight back to his great self the next time we were out. It was a bitter blow however, as to make matters worse championship leader Egon Kaur crashed also, and a maximum points score would have put us in prime position for the FIA WRC Academy Cup. However no time to dwell, we were off to IRC Rally Scotland and back in the Fiesta S2000.
It was my first gravel rally in the S2000 since Wales Rally GB last year, so it was wierd to be back in the car, floating around. We tested the car on Monday quite close to the stages of the rally, perfect. It all went really well, and we found a great setup to start the event. Recce again went really well and with typical British fashion, the weather was miserable. We had two stages on the Friday evening, both in darkness. We made a fantastic start, 7th quickest on SS1, and 2nd quickest on SS2, what a start! We were fourth overnight and were looking to take a cautious approach to the tricky Saturday stages. We still set some good stage times on Saturday, and only lost one place on the leader board, and ended the day 5th, 2 seconds off fourth place.
Sunday was our day to push, and I was ready for it! We started off with a 3rd place time on the opening stage, a great start to show our speed. However from there everything happened. Firstly, the exhaust manifold broke, causing the car to go seriously down on power. We were being chased hard by Czech Skoda driver Jan Kopecky, and we knew it was going to be difficult to keep ahead. 4th place was ours when Thierry Neuville hit trouble, so we knew all we had to do was get around. With only a remote service during the day, we knew we could do very little to aid our troubles, and when a rear diff fan broke, I really thought my rally was falling apart. But, we battled on, stage by stage we done enough to stay in front and got to the end in 4th overall and first privateer! We were thrilled, and we were further showing our speed at no better a time, I was so so happy.
A little (very little) gap to the next Rally in RACC Rally Spain, and back in the S2000 car again, and now part of the SWRC, no pressure! The rally had a new concept to me, mixed surface. Friday stages were based on gravel, with Saturday and Sunday ran on Asphalt. We tested on Monday near Vic on Asphalt, a really nice road and I felt confident that we had done enough to have a package to be competitive. Our recce was good, some long stages and mixed surface made it extremely difficult, but I was up for it. Starting on gravel I was little nervous considering we didn't get to test on the spanish gravel beforehand. However, we were on the pace, and with a fastest time on the second stage, we were within 0.5 seconds of the Rally leader Juho Hanninen. The afternoon was ok for us, the pace wasn't as quick, but we ended the day just 20 seconds off the lead and looking forwards to the monstor 46Km El Priorat stage on Asphalt the following morning. After trojan work by the boys (Thanks lads!) the car was converted to tarmac trim for Day 2.
We started the first stage, and planned to charge. However just 8Km in, we broke a rear driveshaft and were forced to drive the whole loop in front wheel drive, disaster. We got it fixed in service, but I was gutted we had lost close to 2 minutes, and we were back in fourth. In the afternoon, I struggled to find the speed I was looking for. However on the final stage, it started to come together, and I was hopeful to increase our pace on the last day.
The first stage on Sunday morning, the stage was ran in darkness. We had a really good run, and we were quickest in SWRC by some margin. Finally we had found the speed we were looking for, and I was confident there was more. We continued this pace for the rest of the day, and finished the rally 15th overall and 4th SWRC. I was disappointed that we couldn't fight for the victory after our issues, but still really pleased with our speed once again, we're going the right way finally!
Now, back to preparing for Wales Rally GB, the big one. A once in a lifetime opportunity to win a dream prize, and I'll do anything to get it. If we win and Egon finishes 2nd, we need to win 13 stages at least to get the win, so it's flat out! I'm really looking forward to it, there's no reason why we can't do it so bring it on!
Anyhow, off for a cycle!
Craig

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