Tindall belies his years with mature ST drive
Ewan Tindall claimed victory in the ST Trophy in just his second ever forest rally, but was made to sweat post-event following a notional time confusion.
Officials had initially handed Zak Hughes the win after the penultimate stage (Kershope) was cancelled due to a blocked road.
Both Tindall, who had built a lead of over a minute, and secondplaced Mathew Tordoff received notional times that dropped the pair behind Hughes.
Upon close inspection, officials recalculated the times and Tindall was rewarded with victory ahead of Tordoff and Hughes.
Alongside Paul ‘Rocky’ Hudson, Tindall was largely dominant throughout, having taken the fastest time in every stage before Kershope. The pair ended up 25 seconds clear of Tordoff despite suffering two left punctures on a severely rutted final stage.
“We wanted to just take it easy on Ash Park, but we picked up a puncture on the front and rear left. But we only lost about 30 seconds on that one fortunately,” Tindall said.
Tordoff also had a puncture in the final test but the High Wycombe driver took solace in a reduced margin between himself and points leaders James Giddings and Kalvin Green, who both endured problematic rallies.
Cambrian Rally winner Hughes put to bed back-to-back retirements on Rallynuts and Plains, getting back on the podium for the second time in 2018.