There were only four events in Week 41 of the RSRBR Championships, and Press on Rallysport drivers were entered in all of them. Altogether, we had seven drivers competing in rallies in Scotland, Spain, Portugal, and France.



Bryan and Rick headed for the Rallye de la Porte Normande, a France Cup event that consisted of two loops through deceptively tricky Sipirkakim and fast, bumpy Noiker. After being bitten by a particularly notorious clump of saplings on SS1, Bryan carried on as he normally does, setting fast times in his Prodrive Impreza en route to 10th place in class N4 and 74th overall.

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Not to be outdone, Rick set even faster times on SS1 and SS2. He even bested the super-fast Hungarian driver kikiny on the opening stage. Unfortunately an off and contact with a tree on SS3 cost him 30 seconds and a damaged radiator. Despite this, he was still in a position for a good finish. The final stage was a long one though, and making it through with a damaged radiator was highly unlikely. Rick attacked it, setting even faster times through the first two splits. Unfortunately, his Impreza ran out of coolant before it ran out of stage-miles and he was forced to retire.

Jerry and Steven decided to go south to Portugal this week for the Ralli de Mortágua. They planned to use this one as a tune up for next week's WRC Rally RACC Cayalunya. Jerry did exactly what he's been doing the past few weeks – finish high in the standings. The difference this time was that instead of his usual WRC ride, his coche de la semana was a Subaru Impreza N14 URT. Jerry was consistent throughout the rally, posting especially fast times on SS5 and SS11 (Diamond Creek). He finished in 30th place overall, making this the 4th time in the past 6 weeks that he has finished in the top 40.

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Steven's rally didn't start out according to plan. For some reason they don't allow his usual JWRC ride, the Peugeot 207 R3T, in the Portuguese Championship. So, he set out to find a rental car for the weekend. After trying out several, he settled on a lightly used Super 1600 Fiesta. However, what showed up at the rally was Steven's Citroën C2 R2Max. Seems that when the team's accountant (Steven's wife) got the bill for the rental she was none too pleased. Her reply was something like, “Look, do you know how many cars we've bought for you knuckleheads this season? And how many you've smashed up? And now you want to go out and rent another one? Forget it! He has a perfectly good C2 sitting in the shop, let him drive that!” Now, Steven's crew chief knows that Steven's the “boss”, but he also knows who writes the paychecks. So, the C2 was packed up and sent to Mortágua.

After the initial shock of seeing the C2 wore off, things turned out quite well for both car and driver. With some improvised setup and extra attentiveness, the C2 handled the bumpy tarmac stages quite well. Cursing was kept to a minimum, and Steven even set fastest time in class A6 on SS8. In the end, he managed to finish a respectable 49th overall and 26th in the 2WD category. As an added bonus, he also managed 2nd place in among Portuguese C2 R2 Challenge entries.

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The third pairing of the week was Bret and Aaron, hopped the ferry over to the IRC Rally Scotland. The weather was, not surprisingly, foggy and damp for most of the 16 gravel special stages. It's always difficult to finish high on IRC events, and even when you do, points don't come easily. At the last round of the IRC at Sanremo, Justin and Rick both finished inside the top 70 but managed only 12 points between them. Everybody seems to show up with their A-game for the IRC Smackdown, and Rally Scotland was no exception.

This was Bret's first gravel rally in his Peugeot 306 S16, but he settled in quickly and set some quick times on his way to 119th overall and 48th in the 2WD category. He was 7th among N3 entries. Aaron's schedule for the week meant that he had to hump into this one at the last minute, without any practice. He had a few rough moments, and had to take a car repair penalty on each of the last two legs, but he made it to the finish in the fourth of our Subaru Imprezas.

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Last but not least, Greg set out alone for the Rallye Sierra Morena in southern Spain. He again hit the stages in his Super 2000 FIAT Grande Punto. As usual, Greg was consistent and stayed out of trouble. Super 2000 is the top class in the Spanish Championship, and it's always full of talent. So, finishing 26th in class out of 85 entries is yet another good result for the newest member of PoR.

For the team, it was another good showing. Out of 48 stables, we have been 17th, 15th, and 13th the past three weeks. We continue to close in on 24th position in the stable standings for the year despite missing the first six weeks of competition. The fact that we have higher participation and finishing rates than most of our competitors is a sign of the commitment we all have to both improving our individual performances and to pressing on for the team. Well done all!