Press On! Rallysport Week 26 Recap: Two podiums at the halfway mark

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Press On! Rallysport Week 26 Recap: Two podiums at the halfway mark

Week 26 of the Rallyesim championships marks the halfway point of the year. And, if this week's results are any indication we should be headed for a strong second half. Two Press On! Rallysport drivers, Bryan and Steven, scored class podiums this week and a team effort moved us up in the standings.


Bryan and Justin competed in the Rallye de la Côte Roannaise. This was a coefficient 2 rally with three runs over the very technical Pirka Menoko stage. After Justin threw down the gauntlet with a 16th place overall at the Course de Côte de Valderoure-Caille hillclimb last week, Bryan was ready to put in a strong performance. And that he did, with three blistering runs that placed him 13th overall, 3rd in Group N and 2nd in class N4. This was the best placing for a POR driver this year. And to give some indication of how close the competition was, Bryan's time of 13:27.12 was only 1.03 seconds behind the 9th place finisher.

Justin also had a strong performance at la Côte Roannaise. He drove his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 to 86th overall and 7th in the top A8 class with a time of 14:11.44.

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For the second week in a row, Steven competed in Ypres, Belgium. This time it was the 24 Heures d'Ypres – the 9th round of the Belgian Championships. This was a 2 leg, 16 stage rally that featured night stages on the first leg and mixed tarmac/gravel surfaces on the second. For the second week in a row, Steven put in a solid, nearly mistake-free performance. After a conservative start, he continually moved up the standings. He finished 46th overall, 10th in Group N, and 3rd in the N3 class. He also finished 2nd among the Ford Fiesta Rallyesim Fiesta Trophy competitors and moved into 2nd place in that competition for the year. This was Steven's 20th rally for Press On! Rallysport without a DNF.



Bret took on another France Cup rally this week. This was the coefficient 3 Rally de Saint Marcellin, which took place near Grenoble. Rainy conditions held for the first half of the rally, and Bret suffered two collisions with unfriendly guardrails on SS2. He was able to nurse his Citroen Saxo S1600 back to service, and repairs were made in time for the second loop through the stages. He took advantage of the improving conditions to finish the rally in 126th place overall and 8th in the A6K class.

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Aaron was across the border in the Catalonia region of Spain, taking part in the Rallye Vidreres Peu a Baix. For the second week in a row, his weapon of choice was the Peugeot 207 S2000. Aaron is still getting to grips with the car, and his performance improved steadily as the rally progressed. He finished 91st overall, and 16th in Super 2000.

Finally, Jerry was in the Netherlands for the Autosoft Vechtdal Rally. These rallies are always challenging, as the surfaces and weather can be quite unpredictable. Starting fast in a Focus WRC, Jerry worked his way into the top 40 by SS3, but damage on SS4 and 5 caused his retirement. The following day, he ran into trouble again on the first stage of the day (SS7) and retired from the event.

For the week, PoR drivers scored 349 points, moving the team ahead of Pointstop.fr into 26th place. A very solid effort from everyone, as we continue to build a strong core for the second half of the season.