Hull’s Tim Rodgers enjoyed a very successful Cambrian rally when he took third in the Rally First class on the debut event for his Rally4Real built Nissan Micra.The opening pair of stages in Clocaenog forest saw Rodgers struggle a little as a slight leak saw oil dripping onto the clutch which caused it to slip. The time lost meant that he arrived at the first main service halt of the event in 10th place.
“It was disappointing to have the problem in the first couple of stages,” said Rodgers. “We started off well on the first stage but part way through the clutch started slipping which lost us some time. It’s been over a year since I last competed so it took a few miles to get back into the swing of it, especially in a brand new car.”
The service crew were able to fix the problem and with a fully fit car Rodgers was able to increase his pace in the next two tests in Penmachno forest.
The Peart Auto Services and thetortoiseshop.com backed Micra powered through the 15 miles of Penmachno defeating all the class rivals with the exception of Rally4Real team-mate Dave Bennett and Rodgers headed for the second main service halt of the day in third place.
The rally only had one stage to go but, at over 16 miles in length, it was a very tough end to the event. However, Rodgers kept up his Penmachno pace and once again achieved second fastest time in the class, maintaining his third place position overall.
“I’m delighted with the result, I think we showed the pace of the car, especially on the last three stages. I’m confident that we could’ve got second in class without the clutch problem. There are a few areas where the car can be improved and Rally4Real are going to do some more work to address these but for a debut event I think the car performed brilliantly.”
In a good event for the Rally4Real supported team Rally First champion Dave Bennett scored another dominant class victory in his Vauxhall Corsa while Tony Simpson won the 1.4L class in a Volkswagon Polo.
