Icy challenge for Lejog’s 30th year
Three decades after the first Lejog reliability trial, the 2023 edition from 2-5 December was as tough as ever, with just 27 of the 44 crews that took the start making it to the finish.
The rally began at a freezing Land’s End and by lunch on day one, just four crews were clinging on to goldmedal status: Henrik Verspohl and Horst Pokroppa (MGA Coupé), Stewart Christie and Andy Ballantyne (MGB GT), Andy Lane and Iain Tullie (BMW 2002tii), and Thomas Koerner and Rodolfo Pellini (BMW 320/4). As the first day drew to a close, Thomas and Roger Bricknell (Volkswagen Golf GTI), and Alistair Leckie and Mike Cochrane (Saab 900 Turbo) also climbed up to join the roster of competitors in line for gold medals.
Under the cover of darkness, the six regularities, single test and time-control section of leg two were always going to prove a serious challenge, with snowfall upping the ante. By the end of it, just nine crews were in contention for any medal at all, and only 32 started leg three the following morning. Leckie/cochrane retired before the third chapter got under way, but otherwise those in medal positions held station ahead of leg four, the longest, comprising eight regularities and six tests.
After a relentless five legs and 1500 miles, seeing the finish was a big achievement in itself. Four crews did enough to claim the top prize of gold-medal status. They were Lane/ Tullie, for whom this was a recordbreaking seventh gold on the event, plus Klaus Mueller and Eric Schwab (Lancia Fulvia Coupé), Koerner/ Pellini and Christie/ballantyne.
It wasn’t quite to be for Verspohl/ Pokroppa, who slipped from gold to silver on the last leg, with the Volvos of Richard White/bernard Northmore (Amazon 122S), and Derek Hunnisett/alan Pettit (142S) also scooping silvers. No crews claimed bronze medals.