Bentham’s David Wright put his disappointing 2012 rally season behind him
on the Wyedean Forest rally last weekend when he stormed to second place
overall in his Kumho Tyres, Proflex, Drenth, York Brewery,
Millers Oils, Owen Developments and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo
9. The event was the
first in this season’s BTRDA rally championship which Wright intends to
contest.Wright’s rally got off to a frustrating start when he was forced to run in the class for much more powerful world rally cars rather than the B13 class he usually runs in but he used this frustration to good effect as he led the event after the opening four stages.
“The
hassle about the class we were in was not an ideal way to start the rally but
it made us even more determined to show what we can do,” said Wright. “We set a
good time on the opening stage and then started to push harder. Keeping a good rhythm going in the tricky
slippery conditions was the key to a good time and after being fastest in
Serridge and Chepstow Park we held a slender lead at service which I was really
happy with.”
Wright
dropped to third following stage 5, Mailscot, after clipping a rock and bending
the front wheel which resulted in a puncture. Despite this handicap he was only
10 seconds slower than the fastest stage time.
The
puncture was changed at the end of the stage and Wright drove out of his skin
on stage 6 to try and regain the lead. Unfortunately he beat the stage bogey
time by 9 seconds so did not move up the order despite being quickest.
A charge
through the final Speech House stage saw him overhaul the world rally car of
Hugh Hunter to take second place but his time was not quite enough for the win.
“We were
so close to taking a victory, those few seconds lost on stage 5 and 6 made all
the difference. I’m still extremely happy with second place though, we’ve shown
we have the pace to beat the world rally cars and it bodes well for a good
season. I can’t wait for the next event!”
Wright’s
next event will be round two of the BTRDA championship, the Malcolm Wilson
rally, which takes place in Cumbria on 2nd March.
Image courtesy Simon Clarke
Image courtesy Simon Clarke
