Fourth Place For Bird On Manx Rally
Round 3 – The RBS International Manx Rally, Douglas, Isle of Man
Penrith rally driver Paul Bird had to settle for fourth place after two days of competition on the RBS International Manx Rally which finished in Douglas today.
Driving the Pirelli sponsored Subaru Impreza WRC Bird and Northallerton co driver Ian Windress battled against handling problems throughout the 120 mile event as they tried to repeat their podium finish of twelve months ago.
Bird, who held fourth position at the overnight halt put in a strong challenge over the final ten stages today but despite setting fastest time on a number of stages he couldn’t do anything about the three crews in front of him and had to settle for fourth position.
“Once we got the handling sorted out on the car it was a lot better to drive and once I got my confidence back we were bang on the pace. I’m disappointed with fourth place as I wanted to finish inside the top three again but it wasn’t to be. The pace was very fast all weekend but its some more ANCRO points in the bag” commented the Cumbrian businessman.
Bird now turns his attention to the North West 200 whereby he will be overseeing the Stobart Motorsport team with riders Michael Rutter and Ian Lougher around the Northern Ireland closed road circuit.