Tempest South of England Rally - 4-5 Nov 05

Posted: November 8, 2005 10:49 PM

The eighth and final round of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship, this weekend's Tempest Rally, saw the Mitsubishi Motors UK rally team score its highest overall result of the season, when Rory Galligan (from Oldcastle) and co-driver Greg Shinnors (from Limerick), brought their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MR across the finish line in second place.

Galligan's performance also saw him scoop Production Class honours and although this was the Irishman's fifth Group N victory of the season, it was amazingly still not enough to claim the Category title.

Mitsubishi team mates, David Higgins (from Trefeglwys) and Daniel Barritt (from Burnley), led the event for 11 of its 16 stages, but their run of bad luck continued when a broken rear differential forced them into retirement.

The Aldershot based Tempest Rally featured three stages on Friday evening and 13 on Saturday, all 63 of the event's competitive miles held in the forests and on military land in the area.

Having experienced a year of mixed fortunes, the Mitsubishi team went to the event hopeful of scoring a one-two in the Production Category and, with Higgins seeded number one and Galligan number three, the chance of ending the season with a first and second overall was not beyond the realms of possibility.

Friday evening's stages in the dark were to bolster Mitsubishi's aspirations, with the leaderboard before the overnight halt showing Higgins an impressive first overall, with a lead of 14.7 seconds ahead of Galligan in second.

Saturday started off according to plan, but on SS5, the second of the day, Galligan began to experience gear selection problems which dropped him to 3rd, albeit by just three tenths of a second, behind Will Nicholls in a WRC Subaru.

At the following service halt at Rushmoor Arena the team changed the gear linkage and with his car restored to full fettle, Galligan re-claimed second place on stage seven. Things then looked good for Mitsubishi to fulfil their prediction, with the two red Lancers heading the field.

But rallying is never that predictable and having completed SS11 through Rushmoor Arena, Higgins reported that all was not well with his car's rear differential. With three more stages before the next service halt he attempted the next test, but victory was snatched from his grasp when the transmission cried enough.

Higgins' demise saw Galligan inherit the lead, but on the very next stage, SS13, an 8.3 mile run through Longmoor - the longest of the event, the rough nature of the road caused the bolts on Galligan's steering wheel to loosen.

With no intention of stopping, co-driver Shinnors handed his driver a pair of scissors and, whilst Galligan tightened the bolts, Shinnors reached across to steer! All this in-car activity resulted in ten seconds being lost and with the top three being so close, the resourceful Mitsubishi pair dropped to third.

At the final service halt of the event the steering wheel bolts were secured and with team orders to 'go for it' Galligan threw caution to the wind in an attempt to make up his 10 second deficit.

A determined display of driving saw the Irishman reduce the gap to five seconds on SS14 and move up to second, but with a slipping clutch through the final stage, Nicholls was able to extend his lead to 16 seconds.

Galligan's second place also netted him his fifth Production Category win of the season, but the Championship's points scoring system handed the advantage to second in Class, Barry Clark, who had to finish fifth or higher of the Production runners on this event to claim the title.

Although not quite the final set of results the team were hoping for, second overall was a worthy consolation and the impressive performance of the two Mitsubishi's proved beyond doubt that the works Evolutions are the fastest Production Class cars in the Championship.

The Mitsubishi Motors UK works team now looks forward to 2006, with details of it's British Rally Championship programme due to be announced in the next few weeks.

The two Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MRs are prepared by ADR Motorsport of Chesterfield on behalf of Cirencester based Mitsubishi Motors UK. The team is supported by: Pirelli, Shell Racing Fuels, Rampage Performance Motorparts, Speedline Corse, PIAA and ADR Motorsport.

Team Quotes

David Higgins - Driver

"It was really good to lead the event, I just wish we could have taken the overall win. It would have been a great end to the season for the team. Leading for most of the rally proved just how quick these cars can be and what we can achieve when everything's going well. I really thought our bad luck may have been behind us for, but as the year has not been all we wanted it to be, it's better for the team to get all of the problems out of the way in one season."

Rory Galligan - Driver
"Second overall and first in Class is a great result and just what we wanted to achieve on this event. It would have been good to end the season with an outright victory and the Production Class title, but there was nothing else we could do at this stage. This event proved that these Group N Mitsubishi's can be driven at WRC car pace. Even though the season has had its ups and downs, I have thoroughly enjoyed it and I have to thank Mitsubishi for the opportunity."

Paul Brigden - General Manager, Mitsubishi Ralliart
I am really impressed with the performance of the cars and crews on this event. To hold first and second overall for most of the rally is as good as it gets, it's just a continuation of the season's bad luck that stopped us from ending the year with the best result possible. Both David and Rory have proved time after time that our cars are the quickest Production machines competing and the experience we have gained this year has put us in an excellent position for 2006. I am delighted to have won the British Teams Championship, this is testimony to all of the hard work invested by the team this season. We now look forward to next year and challenging for the overall British Title."

Mitsubishi Motors UK Rally Team - 2005 Statistics

Final overall British Championship positions: Rory Galligan: 3rd / David Higgins: 5th

Final BRC Production Championship positions: Rory Galligan: 2nd / David Higgins: 6th

No. of BRC Production Class victories: 6 out of 8 events

No. of fastest stage times - Production Class: 96 out of 127 stages

No. of fastest stage times - Overall: 9 out of 127 stages

Leading Production Class: 8 out of 8 events

Highest overall position: 2nd (Tempest Rally)



Retirements: Rory Galligan: 3 / David Higgins: 4

Tempest International Rally - Final Results (top 10)
1 Will Nicholls/Nick Broom (Subaru Impreza WRC) - 1h 7m 57.4s
2 Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Mitsubishi Evo VIII MR - GpN) - 1h 8m 13.8s
3 John Ingram/Ian Allsop (Ford Focus WRC) - 1h 8m 29.0s
4 Simon Hughes/Ieuan Thomas (Skoda Octavia WRC) - 1h 10m 31.5s
5 Barry Clark/Neil Shanks (Subaru Impreza - GpN) - 1h 10m 36.6s
6 Robert Swann/Ken Bowman (Subaru Impreza - GpN) - 1h 11m 03.1s
7 Launa Smith/Dave Robson (Subaru Impreza - GpN) - 1h 11m 04.1s
8 Stephen Petch/Michael Wilkinson (Subaru Impreza - GpN) - 1h 12m 07.8s
9 Peter Egerton/Andrew Bargery (Hyundai Accent WRC) - 1h 14m 28.1s
10 James Wosencroft/Robert Fagg (Suzuki Ignis - S1600) - 1h 15m 10.7s

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PRE EVENT NEWS

• MITSUBISHI AIM FOR FLYING FINISH Mitsubishi Team could scoop overall honours
  Galligan to do all he can to win Production title
  Higgins seeded at number one
  Mitsubishi poised to take British Teams Championship
  
• Entry List available

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03/11/05
MITSUBISHI AIM FOR FLYING FINISH
Mitsubishi Team could scoop overall honours
Galligan to do all he can to win Production title
Higgins seeded at number one
Mitsubishi poised to take British Teams Championship


The eighth and final round of this year's Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship takes place this Friday and Saturday (4th & 5th November), the Tempest Rally heralding the season's finale, the Mitsubishi Motors UK team fired up to end the season with a bang!

With the overall British Championship positions sewn-up on the previous round, October's Trackrod Rally, a number of the series regulars and World Rally Car teams have elected not to contest this weekend's event. Therefore, the Tempest Rally provides an excellent opportunity for a Group N car to score outright victory.



With the two works Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MRs proving to be the quickest Production Class cars in this year's Championship and with David Higgins, from Trefeglwys and co-driver, Daniel Barritt, from Burnley seeded at number one and Mitsubishi team mates Rory Galligan, from Oldcastle and his co-driver, Greg Shinnors from Limerick, running at number three, the team are hopeful of a top overall result this weekend.

"Having clinched the British Championship on the Tempest Rally last year, I have good memories of this event, although the stages are demanding to drive because of the changing surfaces and different levels of grip", said Higgins. "Now, with no pressure on for Championship position I'm just going to go for the best result I can and then assess the situation towards the end if Rory is in with a chance of claiming the title."

With four Production Class wins from the season's seven events so far, Galligan has held the advantage all season, right up until his car's transmission expired during the previous round, resulting in a non-finish.

Consequently, because of the way Championship points are allocated, with 20 points for a win and often only a handful of Group N cars finishing the events, Galligan's task on the Tempest is a tough one: To secure the title, the Irishman will need to win the Production Class this weekend, with his closest Rival, Barry Clark, finishing fifth or lower.

"It's going to be difficult to take the Production Class title on this event", said Galligan. "All I can do is win the Class and wait and see what happens to the other Group N runners. It's very frustrating, bearing in mind I have won the Production Category on four occasions and between David and I we have been the fastest of the Group N competitors all season, but that's the way it is. However, I'm certainly not going to give up without a fight."

Paul Brigden, General Manager for Mitsubishi Ralliart, accepts the team's current position in the Championship is going to make it difficult to scoop the Production Class spoils, but sees the event as a chance to confirm the pace of the two Group N Mitsubishis:

"The team has suffered some back luck this year, but we will put all that behind us this weekend and aim for the Production Class one-two result we have been looking for all season. If achieving this brings with it a high overall result and secures us the British Teams Championship, then we will have achieved our goal for this event."

The Tempest Rally starts from Rushmoor Arena in Aldershot at 7.00 pm on Friday with three stages before the overnight halt. A further 13 stages on military land and surrounding forests take place on Saturday, with cars returning to Rushmoor Arena for the finish at 4.45 pm.

The two Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII MRs are prepared by ADR Motorsport of Chesterfield on behalf of Cirencester based Mitsubishi Motors UK. The team is supported by: Pirelli, Shell Racing Fuels, Rampage Performance Motorparts, Speedline Corse, PIAA and ADR Motorsport.

Top 10 1 David Higgins/Daniel Barritt (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8.5 MR)
2 Will Nicholls/Nick Broom (Subaru Impreza WRC)
3 Rory Galligan/Greg Shinnors (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8.5 MR)
4 Richard Gower/Aled Davies (Hyundai Accent WRC)
5 Barry Clark/Neil Shanks (Subaru Impreza N10)
6 Wug Utting/Max Utting (Subaru Impreza N10)
7 Anthony Ward/Mark Crisp (Hyundai Accent WRC)
8 Mick Harris/Paul Newman (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo)
9 Peter Egerton/Andrew Bargery (Hyunda Accent WRC)
10 Lorna Smith/Dave Robson (Subaru Impreza N10)

Full Entry list and Details on:

www.tempestrally.com

• 2005 British Rally Championship