| Martin Rowe today emerged victorious from a nip
and tuck battle against Volkswagen’s David Higgins, over 100 miles of greasy
Berwickshire tarmac. Despite Higgins setting the fastest time on 8 of the
event’s 13 stages, it was the Manxman at the wheel of the Ford Puma who
prevailed. As well as giving Rowe a two point lead in the Drivers’
Championship with one event remaining (Banbury Rally, 10 November), the
victory also means that Ford have secured the inaugural Formula Rally
Manufacturers’ Championship. Rowe started the day eight points adrift of
championship leader Justin Dale (Peugeot) but was soon handed a glorious
opportunity to reclaim the leader-board summit when Dale was forced to
retire on Stage 4 with a broken drive shaft, sustained over a big jump.
Rowe commented on his win: ‘It was a shame to lose Justin so early as he
was the quickest when it was greasy this morning. But it turned out to be a
great battle this afternoon when the stages started to dry. We made the
wrong tyre choice and lost time in the early afternoon stages but got it
right in the end and managed to do just enough.’
Ford’s team manager, Philip Dunabin was equally delighted: ‘It’s a great
result for the team. We’re delighted to win with one round remaining.
Martin showed great character to come back from behind against David, it
was a great performance.’
For Higgins it was a major disappointment, having come so close to
emulating his brother Mark’s victory on the same event last year. It was
nonetheless a great debut for Higgins in the car on tarmac. He said of the
team’s performance: ‘It’s been a great rally for us and the Polo has
performed brilliantly on what was its first proper outing on asphalt.’
The jump which accounted for Dale’s demise came back to haunt Peugeot on
the second loop of the ‘Blackadder’ stage this morning when Martin Sansom’s
Peugeot 106 Gti sustained exactly the same problem at exactly the same
point.
Sansom’s retirement is great news for Formula Rally fans as, combined
with Simon Mauger’s epic performance to snatch all ten points in this
event, it creates another down to the wire drivers’ championship decider in
the privateer category to mirror the main Dale v Rowe duel.
Simon Mauger managed to hold off a determined effort from Max McKillen’s
Citroen Saxo to secure his win. Having opened up a comfortable lead of over
a minute over McKillen in the first half of the day by pushing himself, his
new co-driver, Keith Hounslow and his car to the absolute limit, Mauger
almost let it all go when he missed a gear on Stage 8 and consequently left
the road. Quick work by the crew and spectators saw some skilful
disentanglement free the Proton Satria’s drive shaft from barbed wire and
set the pair back on the road to victory.
Provisional Finishing order: 1. Rowe 1:39.59.4 2. Higgins +30.8 3. Magaud
+1:51.2 4. Andersson +2:29.9 5. Mauger +4:09.0 6. McKillen +4:15.6 7.
Wedgbury +14:03.2
Round 6 of the 2001 Formula Rally Championship will be broadcast on
Channel 4, next Saturday, 10 November, at 1100.
Drivers’ Championship Points:
1. Martin Rowe 40 pts,
2. Justin Dale 38 pts,
3. Patrick Magaud 15pts,
4. Francois Duval 14pts,
5. =Mats Andersson 9pts,
Martin
Sansom 9pts,
Simon Mauger
9pts.
Manufacturers’ Championship Points:
- Ford 95pts,
- Peugeot 85pts,
-
Proton 45pts,
- Volkswagen 33 pts.
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