China: final update

After a succession of seven record breaking wins in the Chinese Rally Championship, David and Ieuan endured a difficult event on the Longyou Rally this weekend.

After overcoming suspension problems in the first two stages, they lost the use of their wipers during torrential rain in stage five. With the stages full of mud it was difficult to see further than 20km - but they still managed to lead the Chinese Rally Championship runners, and were lying third overall in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship event.

The car was fixed at service, but on the last stage of Saturday they went round a corner and got dragged into a ditch, then the car slipped down a hill. The crew had built up a 43 second lead when it happened.

Conditions in China were so bad that no cars could get to the stricken Mitsubishi to rescue it, leaving David and Ieuan stranded for six hours in heavy rain. In the end they had to walk approximately 8km out of the stage to get picked up.

Due to the amount of time taken to rescue the Mitsubishi, the crew were unable to re-start on Sunday.

Fiesta SportingTrophy regular James Everard made his Chinese Rally Championship debut on the Longyou Rally, co-driven by Craig Drew. They finished 12th.