Jim Clark Rally - Peugeot Sport UK News

Positions after SS10
1 
 Shaun Gallagher 
 1:11:37.2 
   
2 
 Garry Jennings 
 1:12:01.3 
 0:00:24.1 
 
3 
 Jazz Nandhra 
 1:13:15.7 
 0:01:38.5

Positions after SS12

1 
 Shaun Gallagher 
 1:26:39.4 
 
2 
 Garry Jennings 
 1:26:52.4 
 0:00:13.0 
 
3 
 Jazz Nandhra 
 1:28:11.5 
 0:01:32.1 

The short Langton water splash fell to Jennings who had now narrowed the gap on Gallagher to 8.4 seconds.

The 8.96 miles of Eccles 1 saw Jennings eke out a further 3.9 seconds on Gallagher who was complaining about the heat and that he had to drink loads of water. A marked contrast to the day before. Jennings also commented on the heat; Its savage hot and the tyres are going off. Ingleby was slipping back on the bumpy stuff with variable handling after earlier damaging a wishbone and steering arm. Pawley suffered some problems with his notes a similar problem to Dunbabin who suffered some hairy moments. Patrick Richard was having a quiet day learning but still overshot a hairpin damaging his bumper and having to reverse again.

Jennings was now on a huge charge and took another fastest time through Swinton 1 to narrow the gap to a mere 0.6 seconds and the inevitability of it all was beginning to dawn on Gallagher.

Fogo 1 saw Jennings finally retake the top spot; he was fastest again taking 1.8 seconds from Gallagher to move into a 1.2 second lead. Nandhra looked comfortable in 3rd , 2minutes down on the leader but with a 1minute 21 second buffer on 4th placed Dunbabin. Roper retired at service after suffering accident damage. Richard had a nightmare through stage 17 when his throttle jammed open for 6 miles through the stage.

Just when it was going all Jennings way Gallagher showed he was having none of it setting the fastest time through Langton by 1.7 seconds and moving back into a very narrow half second lead. Dunbabin was struggling with a new set of pads and a brake pedal that was unnervingly hitting the floor.

With Eccles 2 cancelled it was no change at the top and the crews went into the penultimate stage split by only 0.5 seconds.

Swinton 2 looked like it was game over with Jennings setting a stunning time 6.4 seconds up on Gallagher over the 11.17 mile stage. He moved into a 5.9 second lead going into the final stage.

Yet again it all came down to the very last stage and Jennings and Gallagher both gave their all and at the end of the stage they were only split by 0.7 seconds, it was however in Jennings favour and took him to victory by a very slender 6.6 seconds. He was understandably delighted commenting; Who dares wins. He had even caught Hughes on the last stage but fortunately had been quick enough on the earlier section of the stage which negated the time lost behind Hughes.

Gallagher said; Im delighted with the result, but gutted I couldnt catch Garry.

Jazz Nandhra rounded off an excellent event with a fine 3rd place, commenting; I tried hard to catch the guys early on but decided to settle for the points. He picks up the Motorsport News Award for Best Improvement in Seeding for his efforts.

Daniel Dunbabin took fourth with Jack Ingleby gushing, It was extremely eventful and I cant believe where we have ended up.

 Driver 
 Co-driver 
 Nat 
 Total 
 Diff 
 
1 
 Garry Jennings 
 Paul Naggle 
 GB/GB 
 2:24:46.1 
   
2 
 Shaun Gallagher 
 Richard Pashley 
 IRL/GB 
 2:24:52.7 
 0:00:06.6 
 
3 
 Jazz Nandhra 
 James Phillips 
 GB/GB 
 2:27:16.4 
 0:02:30.3 
 
4 
 Daniel Dunbabin 
 Clive Dunbabin 
 GB/GB 
 2:29:26.4 
 0:04:40.3 
 
5 
 Gareth MacHale 
 Derek Brannigan 
 IRL/IRL 
 2:29:35.4 
 0:04:49.3 
 
6 
 Jack Ingleby 
 Grania Ingleby 
 GB/GB 
 2:30:47.7 
 0:06:01.6 
 
7 
 George Philippedes 
 Marshall Clarke 
 GB/GB 
 2:31:18.4 
 0:06:32.3 
 
8 
 Andy Pawley 
 Tim Sturla 
 GB/GB 
 2:31:46.8 
 0:07:00.7 
 
9 
 Eugeen Meegan 
 Patrick Walsh 
 IRL/GB 
 2:32:01.2 
 0:07:15.1 
 
10 
 Tom Hynd 
 Sue Hynd 
 GB/GB 
 2:33:23.7 
 0:08:37.6 
 
11 
 Patrick Richard 
 Alyson Marlow 
 CDN/GB 
 2:37:23.8 
 0:12:37.7 
 
12 
 Adrian McElhinney 
 Rory Thomas 
 IRL/IRL 
 2:39:15.9 
 0:14:29.8 

Heading down into the famous water stage at Langton, where a new road has been constructed to accommodate the volume of spectators, Dale put in an impressive first stage, fastest of the Super 1600 (S1600) field by 1/10th of a second. Teammate Galligan was 1.07 seconds behind Dale.

Just 1.8 seconds behind Gwyndaff Evans, Peugeots Justin Dale held second place at stage 3 in the hills of Bothwell, with Galligan in 3rd place, 15 seconds down on Evans. The ex-works Peugeot 106 of Kents Martin Sansom completes the Peugeot line up in the British Rally Championship as he lies just behind Galligan in fourth place

With every conceivable driving condition on the first few stages, Rory Galligan commented; These stages are very changeable. We are slipping about and have lost a bit of bumper, but thats only cosmetic. We are struggling a little with grip but dont intend to change the set-up before leg 2.

After a relatively dry start to leg 1, stage 4 witnessed a downpour with subsequent spins and slides from the works Peugeot 206 as the weather closed in. Dale lost time with two spins and lies 26.7 seconds down on Evans with Galligan 3rd , 44.1 seconds behind.

Still struggling for grip Dale and Bargery dropped a few seconds on stage 5. Galligan put in an impressive stage time of 13.3 seconds followed closely by Peugeot 106 driver Martin Sansom.

Martin Sansom continued to charge and on stage 6 he set a second fastest time. Peugeot now held 2nd, 3rd and 4th places. Dale blasted through stage 7 making a massive 35 seconds on Evans in the MG. Martin Sansom, who is this weekend being co-driven by Leuan Thomas, was delighted with his position slightly ahead of Galligan.

Justin Dale commented; After heavy rain earlier this afternoon we were slipping about a lot. We changed our suspension at the last service, which helped for the last three stages. We also changed the gearbox to a higher gearing for tomorrow.

Delighted Justin Dale commented; We struggled with grip a bit this morning but the weather changed this afternoon and allowed us to keep a steady pace. It was hard out there this weekend and we have had our fair share of problems with the new set-up. Its good to have won this event again for Peugeot.

Peugeot UK Motorsport Manager, Mick Linford commented; We are obviously pleased with Justins result. Its great considering we only received the new revised suspension set-up from France last Wednesday. Its frustrating for Rory but he kept going and has had more time in the car.