PoR Week 35: WRC FTC MRC FHCC etc.

[spspears]

Week 35 already? Where has the year gone? Guess we can say that our stretch run is starting as the Summer winds down.



We've been settled at 25th place out of 47 in the stable standings for quite a while now. It's a solid position for our ragtag band of North Americans in their first year of competition - especially considering that we didn't even exist until week 7. But, it sure would be nice to end the year in the top half of the standings. Right now, we're in a battle to take over 24th from a plummeting Rallye-Normand.com squad, who have suffered lately from a couple of key defections and low turnout. At the same time, 26th place ASA Lozere continues to run pretty much neck and neck with us each week as we maintain our lead of about 550 points. Can we get to 23rd and the top half of the standings? It might be a tall order, but 2010 is far from over.

On to the recap...

This week Jerry and Steven were back in action at the 9th round of the World Rally Championships – the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. Jerry hit the stages in his Ford Focus WRC, going head-to-head with the fastest guys in the fastest cars. As usual, Steven decided to hang with the 2WD crowd, competing in his now-familiar Peugeot 207 R3T. The stages in Germany were super fast, and unpredictable weather threw an added element into the mix. On two occasions the skies opened up and crews had to deal with heavy rain on loops that were completely dry otherwise. This made tire choice a gamble.

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Both Jerry and Steven started out a bit tentatively, but moved steadily up the standings. Steven ran into big trouble on SS9, when a large dip caused a seemingly benign off. Unfortunately though, the damage was much more severe than it seemed at first, as his Peugeot's radiator had sprung a serious leak. Knowing that the car wouldn't make it through the next stage, he was forced to take a 3 minute car repair penalty. This set him back to a position just barely inside the top 100. Meanwhile, Jerry just kept chipping away with steady stage times, like a sculptor working on a masterpiece. In the end, both of our guys came away with very good finishes. Jerry was 47th overall, and 25th among A8W entries. Steven worked back up to 60th overall and 15th in JWRC.

On to the guys who prefer to work without a co-driver...Bret snagged his second podium of the year at the Cote de Course de Pondron. This was a France Hilclimb Cup event, where the best two of three runs comprise each driver's overall time. The first two attempts were made on a damp course. Then the rain began to fall in earnest, during the third run. This meant it was essential to make the first two runs clean and fast. Bret did just that, and was rewarded with 2nd place in class N1. Bryan was also in attendance, and brought his Impreza home 10th in class N4. He is now tied for 4th place in Group N for the year.



Justin competed in the 6th round of the always hotly-contested France Tarmac Championships, the Rallye du Mont Blanc Morzene. He is right at home on the mountain roads and hairpins of these French stages, which seems a bit strange for a guy from Florida. After a strong start on Leg 1, he ran into a little trouble as the weather changed on the second loop. A couple of off-course excursions cost him valuable seconds. On Leg 2, he fought his way up to 4th in class A8 and was 11 seconds out of a podium position after the rally's penultimate stage. He set second fastest time in the class on the final stage and closed the gap, but fell short by less than 6 seconds. Still, it was an excellent result and perhaps a prelude to what we might see at WRC France in a few weeks time.



Last but certainly not least, Rick traveled to Madagascar for the week's only gravel event, the Rallye FMMSAM. This was a 16 stage rally, contested over three legs. Rick got off to a very solid start in a packed field of 75 N4 competitors. Unfortunately, his rally followed a similar trajectory to Steven's, as a crash-damaged gearbox forced him to run the entirely of SS11 in 1st gear. Ironically, he lost 5 more seconds than he would have from just taking a car repair penalty and sitting the stage out. I'm not sure he saw the humor when his crew chief later pointed this out. Assistance was required to remove Rick's foot from the crew chief's backside so he could help replace the Impreza's transmission (co-drivers always get the worst tasks). Rick came back strong on Leg 3 though, finishing 56th overall and 14th in class N4.

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So, another good week. As the little chart below illustrates, we've been on an upward trajectory since about week 29. Here's to hoping the trend continues!