Ypres Westhoek Rally (Belgium) - 21-24 Jun 07

Posted: June 27, 2007 9:22 AM

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GASS IMPRESSES IN BELGIUM
Darren Gass and Neil Shanks took their Citro’¬C2 Super 1600 to the Ypres rally last weekend and impressed many with top twenty times, but dropped time with punctures and a last stage moment.

The event began well despite either Darren or Neil having contested a European mainland rally before. ¡°We missed four hours of the recce but managed to get three passes of all the stages,¡± explained Neil. ¡°We made pretty good notes but we could see that you could make lots of time by cutting some of the corners. We decided not to pay any attention to the stage times early on and concentrate on getting the first day under our belts.¡±

Despite their determination to ignore the results, by the penultimate stage of Friday they had moved into 27th place overall and people had started to pay attention. ¡°We seemed to attract a lot of interest,¡± said Darren, ¡°Maybe because I was probably the youngest driver and one of only a few from the UK or Ireland.¡± Thankfully their puncture and subsequent time loss on the day¡¯s final test was not recorded, as an accident cancelled the stage, leaving them still inside the top thirty overnight.

The first stage of Saturday went without hitch, but a spin at a hairpin lost the pair around ten seconds on stage eight and by the lunchtime service they had another spin to report. Better news was their first top twenty time which moved them to 22nd place overall. ¡°We¡¯ve been swapping times with the other Super 1600 cars and the car is behaving really well,¡± said Darren at service.

Straight after service stage thirteen saw their second puncture of the rally, but this time they suffered the penalty. ¡°We cut a corner a bit too much and the edge of the tarmac punctured the left hand front tyre. After the one on Friday that broke the wheel too, we stopped and changed it and I think we were practically slowest through the stage.¡± shrugged Neil. Luckily the time lost only dropped them three places, which they made amends for on the last stage before service in the centre of Ypres. Darren pushed on and despite being stuck with three slicks and one intermediate tyre, he was seventeenth quickest, moving back to 23rd with just two stages remaining.

The run to the finish would be fraught though, as they suffered another puncture on the penultimate stage. They stopped and changed it but the jack handle had become dislodged and they had to resort to an allen key to operate it. Darren describes the situation, ¡°We had got quite good at changing wheels, but without the handle it took ages to lift the car and all the time the clock was running, it was very frustrating!¡±

The final stage saw their frustration worsen as the Citroen pair was caught out about five kilometres from the end. An attempt to take a cut left them understeering on and the car nosed into a ditch, ¡°The spectators were brilliant,¡± said Neil, ¡°They were with us almost immediately with a rope and the car was out in no time at all. The problem was shortly after we set off again, the cabin filled with smoke and we had to stop and investigate.¡± The problem was soon diagnosed as the bumper rubbing on the tyre, but the previous puncture combined to drop them to 38th place overall and out of contention for a class award.

At the finish both crew were upbeat about the experience and vowed to try to return for more European rallying later in the year. ¡°We will be back for more as I think experience of this type of events is most important to set competitive times,¡± explained Darren, ¡°We are going to Rally Isle of Man in July with a bit of extra tarmac practice in the car so I hope we can pick up the pace again.¡±

Darren would like to thank Quarryfix Ltd, Cheevers Chemists, Dalzells of Markethill, Haffey Plant Hire, Killycarn Sand & Gravel , EMC Autopax, AC Vehicle Components, Sligo Pallets, Castrol, ID Graphics (NI) and Crozier Motorsport Engineering for their support in 2007. You can check on the team¡¯s progress at

darrengass.com

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Results and News on Rally Website:

Ypres Westhoek Rally

Photos:
rallypics.be

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PRE EVENT NEWS

• Roy White not starting due to work commitments
• Roy White & Darren Gass enter Ypres
• Entry List available

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Roy White & Darren Gass enter Ypres

Roy White with Stephen McAuley along with Darren Gass & co-driver Neil Shanks have entered this year's Ypres Rally

Roy who was forced to withdraw from Donegal due to work commitments the week of the rally, is no stranger to Belgium having competed there during the foot and mount outbreak in 2001.

The rally which is a round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) features some of the best, GpN, S2000 and Super 1600 crews in Europe.

White is seeded at 29 and Gass is at 34.

Rally Website:

Ypres Westhoek Rally