McShea's podium delight

Posted: September 8, 2003 9:00 PM

Aiming to blend speed and consistency on his maiden visit to the notoriously slippery gravel event, McShea and co-driver Chris Patterson fulfilled their brief perfectly by setting five fastest times and 18 top-three times on the 24 stage event.

Incredibly, the Ulstermen's fine result came despite a rock breaking their rear differential on the second day and then the loss of two minutes when they had to stop and change a puncture on the final day. Without those problems, they would have been favourites to win. But McShea refused to be downhearted after taking his best result of the season.

"I can't be disappointed," he said. "I came here knowing I needed a finish and to achieve that with a podium position is exactly what we were aiming for. The whole team at Neil Allport Motorsport did a fantastic job preparing the car and I have to thank them, because it didn't miss a beat all rally.

"I hope that I have shown again that I have the speed to win and the ability to finish events. It would have been fantastic to battle for the victory, because it would have been a great fight, but I think everyone will recognise what we have achieved this week."

The Ulsterman also underlined his credentials as a star of the future by finishing as top first-time driver in Australia and top Mitsubishi driver.

"Australia is known as a rally where experience is a major benefit, so to have been on the winning pace on my first visit is a major boost," said McShea. "I've always felt one of my strengths is that I can adapt to unfamiliar events quickly, and I hope that this result goes a long way to proving that is true."

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05/08/03 McShea shows his asphalt pace
Jardine Lloyd Thompson (JLT) FIA World Production Cup Championship driver Niall McShea underlined his versatility with a string of fastest times on last weekend's tarmac-based ADAC Rallye Deutschland, held in the Trier region of Germany.

The 29-year-old and his co-driver Chris Patterson starred in their Neil Allport Motorsport prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6, their first event on tarmac this year, proving their adaptability on all types of surface.

But the pair's victory goal was ruined by a puncture and gearbox problems that cost them more than seven and a half minutes on the fourth stage of the event and then a broken driveshaft that left them out of the event all together on the 12th stage.

"From the first stage the car was jumping out of third gear," said McShea. "Despite the problem getting progressively worse, to the point that I lost third gear altogether, I was pleasantly surprised to still be in second place and within comfortable striking distance of first place as we headed into the fourth stage."

But his bid to stay in the victory hunt was dented first by a puncture, when he hit one of the concrete culverts that litter the German stages, and then when the over-stressed gearbox started to lose more gears. Eventually the gear linkage broke altogether and it was only McShea's ingenuity that kept him in the rally.
"I jammed the car in fifth gear, but we came to an uphill stretch and the car just wouldn't get up there," said McShea. "I had to go to the bottom of the hill again, jam the car in reverse and then drive backwards out of the final kilometre of the stage."

Following the initial gearbox problem and the subsequent time loss fixing the broken parts, McShea fell from a challenging second overall to 15th and last position. He refused to be beaten and was quickly back on the front-running pace. McShea had climbed back into a points-scoring position before the driveshaft problems forced him out for good.

"After the early problems the plan was to try and prove that we could be fast in any conditions without putting any stress on the car," said McShea. "It was going well - we were comfortably fastest on all but one of Saturday's stages and second fastest on the other one. The driveshaft failure is unfortunate, because we were setting the sort of times that should make team managers sit up and take notice."

In total during the 11 stages he contested McShea set an impressive four fastest times, four-second fastest times and two third fastest times. In fact, he was only out of the top three fastest times on one stage that he contested - and that was when he suffered his puncture and gearbox problems.

"Yet again I have shown I have got the pace to challenge for victory but come away with nothing," said McShea. "In Argentina I set nine fastest times, in Cyprus I would have been leading after the first day but for a mechanical problem and here I've been able to prove my speed once again. It is incredibly frustrating - but hopefully people will look beyond the non-finish and take notice of my pace.

"This weekend I have been able to prove I have an all-round ability whatever the conditions. When we have a clean run through an entire event I am comfortable that will translate into a top result to give the whole team the result it deserves."