Mixed emotions on the Manx
It was three days of mixed emotions for the TQ RED crew of David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas on Rally Isle of Man last weekend.
The crew showed exactly what they were capable of when things fall into place by setting three fastest stage times in the British Rally Championship section of the event. One was second fastest overall behind Andreas Mikkelsen in his Ford Focus WRC, and the other two were third fastest overall behind Andreas and Eugene Donnelly in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
“When things worked well we showed the real promise the car has,” says David. “But we need to continue working on developing that promise. We had a problem with the car where it was pulling to the right when we accelerated on slicks, so we could only run on inters which were not the right tyre choice for most stages.”
The crew also suffered from overheating problems during the rally which resulted in them having to top the car up with water after every stage. David and Ieuan handled the problem well, but the car finally cried enough as it returned to service after stage 19.
With only three stages to go, they were forced to finish the rally under superally regulations. David picked up three championship points.
“When we had to retire we were set to pick up third placed points in the BRC,” says David. “After the problems we had that would have been fantastic, especially after our second place finish on the Jim Clark. The team are now planning a two-day test ahead of the Ulster Rally in September.”
It was a better weekend for David’s TQ RED team mate Hugh Evans. Hugh and his co-driver Iestyn Williams finished ninth in the British Rally Championship points. It is a fantastic achievement for Evans who was contesting the notoriously challenging event for the first time.
David and Ieuan will now switch back to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 they use in the Chinese Rally Championship as they prepare for the Kaiyang Rally on 4th/5th August. The WY rally team they drive for leads the teams championship thanks to David and Ieuan winning all three rounds of the championship so far.
The crew showed exactly what they were capable of when things fall into place by setting three fastest stage times in the British Rally Championship section of the event. One was second fastest overall behind Andreas Mikkelsen in his Ford Focus WRC, and the other two were third fastest overall behind Andreas and Eugene Donnelly in his Subaru Impreza WRC.
“When things worked well we showed the real promise the car has,” says David. “But we need to continue working on developing that promise. We had a problem with the car where it was pulling to the right when we accelerated on slicks, so we could only run on inters which were not the right tyre choice for most stages.”
The crew also suffered from overheating problems during the rally which resulted in them having to top the car up with water after every stage. David and Ieuan handled the problem well, but the car finally cried enough as it returned to service after stage 19.
With only three stages to go, they were forced to finish the rally under superally regulations. David picked up three championship points.
“When we had to retire we were set to pick up third placed points in the BRC,” says David. “After the problems we had that would have been fantastic, especially after our second place finish on the Jim Clark. The team are now planning a two-day test ahead of the Ulster Rally in September.”
It was a better weekend for David’s TQ RED team mate Hugh Evans. Hugh and his co-driver Iestyn Williams finished ninth in the British Rally Championship points. It is a fantastic achievement for Evans who was contesting the notoriously challenging event for the first time.
David and Ieuan will now switch back to the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo9 they use in the Chinese Rally Championship as they prepare for the Kaiyang Rally on 4th/5th August. The WY rally team they drive for leads the teams championship thanks to David and Ieuan winning all three rounds of the championship so far.
posted by David at
20:40
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home