Podium finish for David Higgins despite problems in China
David Higgins has decided to remain in China after the Jiangning Rally to take part in tests of his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X with the WY Rally Team, after being forced to contest the event without testing on gravel beforehand.
David and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas took third place points for the team on the event, despite their testing problems which began a month ago when David was unable to travel to China to take part in an essential testing in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X due to the volcanic ash cloud canceling their flights.
"That was going to be the first gravel test we've ever done in the car," said David. "When it didn't work out, we thought we could try to overcome the situation by trying to fit in a gravel test when we arrived for the rally last week, but we only managed to fit in 7km before the fuel tank split. Then any time we got in the car after that was to check the fuel tank was okay, not to set up for gravel, so we went into the event blind as to how the car would react in comparison to the Evo9 we had last year."
During the opening superspecial stage the crew set a good time but the car ran wide, and the main stages on Saturday got off to a good start, despite David feeling the car set up was still too soft.
"We were lying second overall when a damper broke and the car went wide on the next bend, hitting a rock and pushing the body of the car onto the tyre," explained David. "We lost about one and a half minutes and dropped to fifth. We pushed back up to fourth overnight, then on the opening stage on Sunday the rear diff broke on the car so we did the first two stages in front wheel drive.
"However, once we got sorted we did set the fastest time on the final two stages, showing the car can do what it needs to if we have the right preparation for an event. If we had been able to test beforehand, we know we would have had the best set up possible, and taken a much better result. Us staying on in China to do more testing will give us a better chance on the next event - and hopefully the ash cloud will be long gone by then too!"
The Jiangning Rally was won by Mark Higgins, with Jussi Valimaki second.
David and his co-driver Ieuan Thomas took third place points for the team on the event, despite their testing problems which began a month ago when David was unable to travel to China to take part in an essential testing in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X due to the volcanic ash cloud canceling their flights.
"That was going to be the first gravel test we've ever done in the car," said David. "When it didn't work out, we thought we could try to overcome the situation by trying to fit in a gravel test when we arrived for the rally last week, but we only managed to fit in 7km before the fuel tank split. Then any time we got in the car after that was to check the fuel tank was okay, not to set up for gravel, so we went into the event blind as to how the car would react in comparison to the Evo9 we had last year."
During the opening superspecial stage the crew set a good time but the car ran wide, and the main stages on Saturday got off to a good start, despite David feeling the car set up was still too soft.
"We were lying second overall when a damper broke and the car went wide on the next bend, hitting a rock and pushing the body of the car onto the tyre," explained David. "We lost about one and a half minutes and dropped to fifth. We pushed back up to fourth overnight, then on the opening stage on Sunday the rear diff broke on the car so we did the first two stages in front wheel drive.
"However, once we got sorted we did set the fastest time on the final two stages, showing the car can do what it needs to if we have the right preparation for an event. If we had been able to test beforehand, we know we would have had the best set up possible, and taken a much better result. Us staying on in China to do more testing will give us a better chance on the next event - and hopefully the ash cloud will be long gone by then too!"
The Jiangning Rally was won by Mark Higgins, with Jussi Valimaki second.
posted by David at
13:50
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