Back to the top of the Chinese podium!
David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas have overcome mechanical gremlins at the start and finish of the Xuecheng Rally to take yet another outright victory on a round of the Chinese Rally Championship.
The event got off to a bad start when their WY Team Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX suffered a broken gearbox and rear diff in the first stage, leaving them with first, third and fourth gear.
"We couldn't change the box until the end of the day," says David. "And the team did a great job, it was changed in 27 minutes and the car was back to full health for day two. By that point we were lying third behind my brother Mark."
It was then announced that Mark had been given a 29 minute penalty for missing a control, which moved the boys up to second overnight.
"From there we knew we had a good chance as we were 29 seconds up on Patrik Flodin in third and 22 seconds behind the leader, so we pushed and had a trouble free day to pace ourselves to the end.
"Then the drama started! Instead of being able to celebrate with the team, the oil return pipe from the turbo broke on the way back to service after the final stage so we lost all the engine oil. It was then a mad rush to fix the car to get over the finish ramp and secure our place.
"Luck was definitely on our side because we made it. If I could have bought a lottery ticket at the same time I would have, such a lucky day!"
The event got off to a bad start when their WY Team Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX suffered a broken gearbox and rear diff in the first stage, leaving them with first, third and fourth gear.
"We couldn't change the box until the end of the day," says David. "And the team did a great job, it was changed in 27 minutes and the car was back to full health for day two. By that point we were lying third behind my brother Mark."
It was then announced that Mark had been given a 29 minute penalty for missing a control, which moved the boys up to second overnight.
"From there we knew we had a good chance as we were 29 seconds up on Patrik Flodin in third and 22 seconds behind the leader, so we pushed and had a trouble free day to pace ourselves to the end.
"Then the drama started! Instead of being able to celebrate with the team, the oil return pipe from the turbo broke on the way back to service after the final stage so we lost all the engine oil. It was then a mad rush to fix the car to get over the finish ramp and secure our place.
"Luck was definitely on our side because we made it. If I could have bought a lottery ticket at the same time I would have, such a lucky day!"
posted by David at
13:28
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