REVELLING IN HISTORIC RALLYING PAUL LAWRENCE T

“Rally2wd brought lost crews back”

he first event run to the new Rally 2WD format has come and gone and the response has been remarkably positive. Rally North Wales delivered excellent road conditions and competitors were magnanimous in their praise for the event.

I have to declare an interest here, as I’ve been involved with Rally 2WD from the start, along with Simon Wallis and Alan Walker, but I’ll try and be objective.

In short, Wolverhampton and South Staffordshire Car Club turned a lossmaking 2017 event into a rally that should have returned a sensible profit to the club. A few late withdrawals left the entry list just short of the 120 capacity and 105 of them were in two-wheel-drive cars. Over 150 crews initially entered the rally.

Within the two-wheel-drive field were at least 15 crews that had previously stopped doing gravel rallies following the 2015 running order changes. The BHRC started with 53 contenders, compared to 23 cars a year earlier, and the new Rally2 Championship for modern 2WDS started with an encouraging 13 contenders. The best Category 1 field (pre-1968) for years arrived in Dolgellau and the response to the event, road conditions and overall format was overwhelmingly positive.

So, what were the drawbacks? Only one really stands out: it was a long wait for 11 4WD cars for the marshals and everyone involved recognises that. It is something that needs addressing and a larger four-wheel-drive entry would have made it more palatable. But some of those crews were caught out by the speed with which the entry filled up.

Interestingly, leading four-wheel-drive pilot Dylan Davies reported that road conditions did not seem particularly different, which is fantastic news, as rather than being car 1 on the road, he was around car 90. Once again, the quality of work being done by Rally4wales is bringing massive benefit to gravel rallying.

What next for Rally 2WD? Well, the Pirelli Rally had already pioneered a format that put the two-wheel-drives first and the response to the April 28 event has been excellent. The section started 42 cars in 2017 but the final tally for this year could be close to double that number.

Then, the Red Kite Stages (June 24) will be the second event to run the Rally 2WD format and the entry will fill up fast. The regs are already out and entries are open, with a sensible offer from the organisers of a £50 deposit to secure a place.

Inevitably, work has been underway for some time on how R2WD evolves in 2019. What would be excellent now is to find one or two more organising clubs in Wales that might be interested in adopting the format.

Adamp weekend in Antrim for the returning Easter Stages produced another epic Irish Tarmac Championship battle between the Moffett brothers, as Josh came out ahead of Sam by a matter of seconds.

Coming just a few weeks after West Cork, and with the National Championship’s Circuit of Kerry round occurring on the same weekend, it wasn’t hugely surprising to see a relatively small entry for the Ulster Automobile Club’s Easter Stages event.

The second round of this year’s ITRC had all the main championship contenders take the start, though, and once again it was the Moffett men from Monaghan that provided the main drama. Based in Ballyclare, County Antrim, the event had 12 stages (familiar to some from Ulster rallies past), and conditions were to prove a real challenge for the competing crews.

Quickest out of the blocks and into a lead that he would hold for the whole of the first day, Derek Mcgarrity was making full use of both the technology advantage of his Subaru Impreza S14 WRC and local knowledge with his house being only a few miles from the stages. His WRC car was not eligible for overall ITRC points as those positions are reserved for R5 cars.

The first test was shortened due to organisational issues, and torrential rain on SS2 meant treacherous amounts of standing water for all.

Desi Henry was the quickest R5 man on SS1, back in a new upgraded Skoda Fabia after his Ford Fiesta foray on round one, though issues with brake bias and an overshoot meant he dropped back down the field until he put the Fabia off on Saturday’s penultimate test to go OTL and out of the event.

Daniel Cronin was going well on his first-ever event in Northern Ireland in his Fiesta R5, and could have been further up the leaderboard were it not for a timeconsuming incident with a chicane.

Marty Mccormack and David Moynihan (Skoda Fabia R5) set a rapid time on the second test and followed up with good consistency all day to end up second overall overnight behind Mcgarrity, although as they aren’t registered for Tarmac points, it was the Moffett brothers who once again headed the championship contenders. Sam was fastest on the final stage of the day to keep Josh in his sights. Robert Barrable and Damien Connolly (Ford Fiesta R5) were behind after they also had a fastest time during the day.

Clutch issues after the overnight halt stopped Mcgarrity in his tracks, and stunning times by both Josh and Sam Moffett on the first stage of the day meant they leapfrogged Mccormack into the top two slots.

It was to remain like this for the rest of the rally, with sometimes only fractions of seconds between stage times as the brothers went on full attack, Josh commenting that the rally really came alive on the last loop.

The thorny issue of bogey times came to the fore, with the maximum allowable average speed (75mph) beaten by the top four crews on SS9 and the top two crews on SS12. Even without the bogey intervention, Josh would have won by a tiny margin, and another maximum points allied to victory is very good news for his title bid. The 2018 season is rapidly shaping up to be a titanic duel between the brothers, and this battle will continue on the next round in Killarney.

Mccormack took the final podium slot, though Barrable garnered

Class winners Kyle White/ Sean Topping (Peugeot 208); Michael Mcgarrity/ Damien Garvey (Citroen DS3 R3); William Mavitty/ Brian Daniels (Mitsubishi Lancer E9); J Moffett/ Hayes; Carmichael/ Lamont

third-place points to consolidate his championship position. Jonny Greer put in a promising performance for fifth in the Fiesta used by Desi Henry in West Cork, the Carryduff man’s new Citroen C3 R5 still not ready and awaiting parts from abroad. Cronin – brother of four-time British Rally champion Keith – wound up just five seconds behind Greer, his pace improving with each event, and the Cork man will be one to watch as the year progresses.

Alan Carmichael took his Mini Countryman WRC to seventh ahead of Stephen Wright (Fiesta R5) and Eugene Donnelly’s Mrf-shod Hyundai i20 R5.

While a strong R5 entry provided interest at the head of the field, many of the International classes suffered from depleted numbers. William Mavitty took Group N honours in a Mitsubishi Lancer E9 ahead of the Impreza of Liam Egan, with Kyle White (Peugeot 208 R2) winning class A2 and Michael Mcgarrity (Citroen DS3 R3) the sole A3 entrant and finisher.

Alan Carmichael was the victor in class A7 for WRC cars after Mcgarrity’s demise, with Denis Biggerstaff bringing his Subaru Impreza WRC S9 17th overall for second in class.

Ford Escort Mk2 Ford Escort Mk2 Proton Satria S2000 Millington Subaru Impreza Peugeot 306 Maxi Kit Car Talbot Sunbeam-lotus Ford Escort Mk2 Subaru Impreza STI Ford Escort Mk2 Ford Escort Mk2