Janice Moore had her best ever overall gravel rally result on Saturday (7th November) when she co-drove Mark Gamble to second place on the Tempest 2 rally in a Citröen C2R2 Max.With Gamble using the car for the first time on gravel the crew made a cautious start to the Aldershot-based event, lying 11th overall after the opening two Yateley Wood and Warren Heath stages.
"The opening stages were slippery and we didn’t want to risk going off," said Moore.
"Mark had to get used to the new car on the gravel and, as our first event together didn’t last too long, he had to get used to me too!"
The Citröen crew stepped up the pace over the next three stages and, despite catching a slower car in one of the runs, they emerged from stage five in an excellent second overall behind Julian Wilkes.
Stage 6 saw the leaderboard change, Gamble and Moore again catching a slower car and losing eight seconds to new rally leader Jason Pritchard, who was also out in a Citröen C2R2 Max.
The leading two crews recorded exactly the same times on stage seven and eight and with two stages to go Gamble and Moore were just five seconds behind. Unfortunately it was dark for stage nine and the crew had no time to fit spotlights before the stage. Hampered by poor visibility they lost a further six seconds to Pritchard who had fitted lights earlier in the day.
Lights were fitted for the final stage but any hopes of a victory charge were stopped when the crew backed off slightly after they saw lights appearing to head towards them. Fortunately the other car was in another part of the stage but more time was lost to the leader. With third place man Wilkes breaking a driveshaft they were able to maintain their second place on the leaderboard despite the time loss.
"It was disappointing that we weren’t able to challenge for the lead on the last two stages but overall we’re delighted with the result."
"The car performed well and we had no major problems, it was an enjoyable event and great to get a finish."
Janice will next be in action at the Hall Trophy Stage Rally at Blyton where she will partner Nick Cristofaro in a Nissan Micra as part of the Formula 1000 Junior championship.
For more information on Janice’s rallying please visit janicemoorerallying.co.uk.
