The event commenced on Thursday night with four stages scheduled. Brown made a great start in his Mintex Racing, Fuchs Titan Race, 710 Oils, PIAA, Sabelt UK and Six 80 Ltd Aviation Asset Management-backed car, setting the third fastest time in the class on the opening stage in front of a large crowd of spectators on Douglas promenade.
Due to incidents with other cars resulting in stage cancellations Brown was only able to complete one more stage on the opening leg and he ended the night fourth in class.
A very challenging day two of the event would see the crews face 13 tough stages. Brown’s car suffered from a lambda sensor issue early on but this was fixed and he was able to move back up to third in class by the end of the day with a storming drive which included setting one stage time which was 12th fastest on the event, beating several much more powerful cars.
Day three had a further 7 stages but Brown’s event was sadly to be over after the third stage, “Snuff the Wind”, as the Micra’s gearbox failed meaning that he could not continue. At the time he was still third in class as well as 19th overall.
“It’s very disappointing not to get to the end of the event, it’s my first retirement in 8 years of rallying,” said Brown. “We can take a lot of positives from the event though, the upgrades we made to the car worked well and we were showing good pace.”
“I hope to be back on the Isle of Man for the Pokerstars rally in November but it will depend on how much it will cost to fix the gearbox. Thanks to all my sponsors and the team at PACE for their support.”
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Photo courtesy Martyn's Fotos
