The event was a round of a number of separate championships, but our interest was in the National and Clubman’s categories where three Ludlow Castle Motor Club (LCMC) members were competing.

In the National championship LCMC’s Andrew ‘Maps’ Sankey partnered Icelandic driver Daniel Sigurdarson for the third time in the Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 10. The Mitsubishi EVO 10 is proving to be quite a reliable car; there are only two rallying in this country at present, one of them a works car, and the other used by Sigurdarson and Sankey in group N spec.

 Despite heavy rain showers during the week and an overnight shower the night before, the rally stages were in pretty good condition.

Rheola Forest, Stage 1, was almost the first and last stage for Sigurdarson / Sankey. They had a big moment when the car left the road ending up in high undergrowth, but Sigurdarson managed to power the 4 wheel drive EVO 10 out and back onto the track to finish the first stage only 22 seconds down on rally leader Steve Perez in his Ford Focus WRC car.

They were 4^th overall and 1^st in class at the end of Stage 2, but this changed on Stage 3 as Sigurdarson lost his rhythm, dropping time to the charging Daniel Barry in his EVO 9.

Stage 4, Rhondda, was cancelled due to an accident requiring the county ambulance, so the national crews all kept their previous stage times.

Stage 5, the second run through Rheola forest, in spite of a heavy rain shower which caused the car to mist up inside, Sigurdarson gained back his 4^th place from Barry.

 Apart from the battle with Sigurdarson and Barry there was another battle at the head of the leader board with first place changing three times between Perez, Duckworth and Dodd.

Marcus Dodd in his Hyundai Accent WRC car led going into Stage 6, Walters Arena, a famous spectator stage from the WRC round, Wales GB. This Stage features tight flowing corners and 3 big jumps and the cars can be seen here for about a minute, which offers good viewing for spectators.

 Sigurdarson had a good run through Walters with no problems reported going into the last service. The car was handling well despite running on a mixture of new and used tyres. There had been quite a few retirements during the day and at the start of Stage 7 there were only 15 competitors left in the National class. Sigurdarson / Sankey finished this stage just 3 seconds up on Barry who looked determined to take that 4^th place off them. Perez was also on a charge and he had his sights firmly set on 1^st place which he took off Marcus Dodd on the last stage.

Sigurdarson / Sankey lost their 4^th place on the final Stage  to Barry by just one second, finally finishing 5^th overall and 2^nd in class.

In the Clubman’s championship Jon Scott from Ludlow Castle Motor Club navigated for Jamie Anderson in the Mitsubishi EVO 8. This was only the second time for them in the car, and the rally was really a test day for the car so they weren’t trying too hard. In spite of this they still managed to put in the second fastest time on the opening stage, a position that they held into stage 3.

They dropped a bit of time on Stage 3 and also a position.

Going into Stage 5 they were 3^rd overall and 2^nd in class.  They had a good run through the second Rheola stage and gained the number 2 spot back from Martin England (EVO 9).

 In spite of another good run through the final stage, Walters Arena, Anderson / Scott lost seconds to England who took the second place back. This meant they finished 3^rd overall and 2^nd in class, quite commendable for just the second outing in the car.

The only other LCMC member taking part in the event was Chris Brooks who was co-driving for Ciro Carannte in a BMW 325i. Their rally was short-lived as they retired on the very first stage of the day with broken suspension.

 

 Photos by kentonphotografix