The
Pirelli International Rally, based in Carlisle, round two of the
2010 British Rally Championship, presented a tough challenge for
the crews, with three night stages in the famous Kielder Forest
complex on the Friday night, and a further nine stages before
the event finished on Saturday afternoon. Sadly for young Alastair
Fisher and his co-driver the experienced Rory Kennedy, their Group
N Mitsubishi Evo 9 only took them to the start line of stage 7,
before mechanical failure forced their retirement. However before
this the MSA Rally Elite member was once again up near the front
of Britain's premier rally series.
The
rally started well for Alastair with third fastest time on the
first Newcastleton stage, though a niggling problem with the
intercom caused a few concerns on the second stage. "There
was quite a lot of dust on the stages, and the intercom was
cutting in and out at times, so it was difficult to hear Rory,
but we were still second fastest. On the next stage however
we were travelling along a straight and we thought a back wheel
had come off! What actually happened was that a tyre had just
blown out, and we dropped 30 seconds putting us 5th overnight.
That puncture in a way took us out of the battle with Craig
Breen." Indeed Alastair ended the leg eight seconds behind
Dave Weston Jnr's Subaru, but he started day two on a real charge.
"On
the first loop of Saturday morning we were second and third
fastest on the stages, and we took 36 seconds from Dave Weston
on those tests, which moved us up to fourth. I was very happy
with the car, the set up felt perfect, and I feel we have made
a real step up from last year." By stage 6 Alastair was
27.6 seconds behind third placed Craig Breen, and 25 seconds
ahead of Dave Weston Jnr, but there was to be an unpleasant
surprise in store as he rolled up towards the start line of
stage 7-Roughside. "As we edged forward to the start line
of stage 7, the car just locked solid, and we couldn't move.
We eventually had to get towed off the start line with a Land
Rover, and it freed up for a moment only to lock solid again.
At the moment the car is being checked and we think the problem
could be in the front transmission."
It
was the second unfortunate retirement for Alastair in the British
Rally Championship this season, with the next round on tarmac
in May on the Jim Clark International in Scotland. "It's
not ideal to have no points on the board after two rounds, but
there are others who have dropped scores. There is still a possible
ninety points to be scored from four remaining rounds with three
of those rounds on tarmac hopefully we can resurrect our BRC
season. It would be nice to go to the Jim Clark and try and
get a podium to boost the confidence again. We seem to be having
better luck on the Irish Tarmac Championship this year! "
The
third round of the Irish Tarmac Championship is this weekend
on the Killarney International. "We are lying second overall
in the championship and leading Group N, so hopefully we can
maintain this strong position." After his superb Circuit
of Ireland drive it will be interesting to see how the team
fare out in Killarney.
For all the latest news, check Alastair's website -
www.alastairfisher.com
Issued by Andrew Bushe Promotions www.andrewbushe.com
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