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Mitsubishi Evo pilot Stephen Petch Junior salvaged valuable points on this weekends Park Systems Rally and kept his Mitsubishi Evo Cup championship hopes alive with a spirited fight back after earlier punctures cost him valuable time on possibly��one of the toughest��rallies of the year.
Stephen, using a borrowed car on his return to active competition after an unpleasant accident on the Isle of Man in early August, knew he had to score well on this weekends penultimate round of the Mitsubishi Evo Cup if he was to be in with a shot at the title, but was also conscious of the need for mechanical sympathy.
However, the County Durham based driver was hampered with a puncture on the opening 19 mile stage, costing him a lot of time and leaving him with a tall order if he wanted to gather a decent points haul from this, the penultimate round of the championship. A top time on the very next stage helped Stephen regain confidence as he went quicker than championship rival Anthony Willmington and considering that Stephen’s borrowed car was of an older spec and therefore not quite as quick, this was no mean feat.
Stephen’s fight back continued on Stage 4 with the SGP Motorsport driver going another 7 seconds faster than Willmington, and this despite picking up yet another puncture 2 miles from the end of the stage.
Stage 5 underlined his true talent and capabilities. In a ’showroom special’ production car Stephen stopped the clocks a mere 5 seconds slower than the fastest World Rally Car and was 5th fastest overall as well, taking another 5 seconds out of his championship rival.
The final stage of the rally, a repeat of the 19 mile opening stage was notoriously cut up after over 100 cars had past through and would be a challenge for survival but still Stephen blitzed the field, balancing pace with caution netted Stephen 4th fastest overall, going an astounding 30 seconds faster than Willmington.
However the damage had all been done with the puncture on the very first stage and although Stephen drove well to recover a huge chunk of that time 5th in Group N and 20 seconds down on the Mitsubishi Evo cup winner was hardly just reward for his spirited drive.
“It was another frustrating event and the Park Systems really has not been kind to me. Both last year and this year I have been plagued with unlucky punctures” said Stephen.
He added: “I was pushing pretty hard in that last stage and came out with all 4 tyres intact, so explain to me how on earth I punctured on the opening stage, when I was being cautious.”
Stephen heads to the final round still in with a mathematical chance of winning the Evo cup but before hand he will contest the penultimate round of the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, the International Rally of Yorkshire, which runs on the 7th of October.
Pingback from All Set For Trackrod
Time: 01, 10, 06, 11:19 pm
[…] Stephen has been back out in action since the panel damaging crash, when he and co-driver Michael Wilkinson used a borrowed Mitsubishi on the recent Park Systems Rally based in Newton Stewart in South Scotland. […]
Pingback from Press Releases from SGP Motorsport UK » » All Set For Trackrod
Time: 01, 10, 06, 11:22 pm
[…] Stephen has been back out in action since the panel damaging crash, when he and co-driver Michael Wilkinson used a borrowed Mitsubishi on the recent Park Systems Rally based in Newton Stewart in South Scotland. […]
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