PoR Week 20 Highlights: Autocrossers Rule the French Tarmac

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Justin and Bryan lead the points as PoR moves up in the standings.

Week 20 of the Rallyesim.com championships saw five Press on! Rallysport drivers competing in five different rallies. All of them scored impressive points totals, with our two resident autocrossers, Justin Cady and Bryan Heitkotter, showing the way on the French asphalt. Both surpassed the coveted century mark for the week.



Equally impressive is the fact that this was the fourth week in a row where every PoR driver finished. That's an impressive run considering that attrition rates average more than 50% on RSRBR. Over that span, PoR drivers have completed 14 rallies.


Top points for the week went to Justin Cady. Justin has found a home in the France Tarmac Cup, which offers regional tarmac rallies categorized by their length. This week Justin took on the coefficient 5 Rallye de la Sainte Baume, the longest category for regional rallies. Sainte Baume featured three runs through the very technical Bisanne along with several other faster more open stages. Despite a couple of off-course excursions and a roll on the final stage, Justin set fast times and was rewarded for his effort with 9th place in the top A8 class. The guys at the shop have some work to do on the trusty Evo IX while Justin steps into a WRC car for Nations Cup this week.

Bryan Heitkotter competed in the second France Cup event on offer in week 20, the coefficient 3 Rallye du Printemps du Bords. He finished 80th overall and 6th in the N4 class in his Prodrive Impreza. 379 drivers started the rally with 174 making it to the finish.



Steven Spears was also busy in France, taking on the third round of the French Tarmac Championships in his Citroen C2 R2 Max. While Steven has become comfortable in the C2 on gravel, he had been less than successful on tarmac. However, after spending some development time with the car he was hoping for a better result. Leg 1 went very well, with almost no mistakes over the first seven stages. Unfortunately, the second stage of leg 2 turned out to be a disaster, as a mixup with the co-driver's notes and fog leg to a pair of incidents. The remainder of the stages went well however, as Steven pushed hard to make up places and set good times. He finished 84th overall and 6th in the R2 class, and also scored points toward the Citroen Racing Trophy.

The final European rally of the week saw Jerry Centeno back with PoR after a few weeks away. Jerry had the best overall placing of the week, with a 44th in the La Guardia d'Urgell gravel rally of the Catalunya Championship. He was 18th in the A8 class, driving a 2005 Ford Focus WRC.



Finally, Aaron DeMarre was back in Madagascar driving in the Flashback Tournament. Flashback pits crews against each other in identical cars built before the turn of the century. Last time the locals surprised Aaron by blindfolding him before leading him to his rear wheel drive BMW M3. This time he was a little more prepared for the mixed surfaces and the beautiful Toyota Corolla ST205 that was his ride for the rally. 146 Corollas were wadded up during the 8 stages of the Mamykely Rally, but Aaron's wasn't one of them. He set solid times and finished 98th of the 309 starters. He bid adieu to Madagascar for week 21, but will be back for the Boeny gravel rally in two weeks time.

Overall, it was a very good points week for Press on! Rallysport. We scored 471 points, which was our third highest total in our short existence, and 20th among all teams for the week. We also leaped over Gibson Custom Racing and HRF Racing Team into 27th place overall.



Week 21 takes several PoR drivers back to Nations Cup action, where we hope to gain ground on the Dutch before their home rally. Aaron has organized the North American round, which takes place in his stomping grounds in the Washington Cascades. The forecast is calling for a late spring snowstorm, so things could get very interesting. We also have three drivers planning to do the WRC Rally of Portugal, with one each in J-WRC, S-WRC, and WRC, while Bryan is scheduled for the next round of the Spanish Rally Championship.

Also, we have a couple of spots available on the team. Check our forum section for more info.