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Mitsubishi Ralliart
Evolution Challenge UK
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Daniel Barry takes second victory of the
season.
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Simon Hughes finishes second after
leading the first leg.
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Owen Murphy overcomes problems to claim
third.
 Daniel
Barry and his co-driver Martin Brady recorded their second Mitsubishi
Ralliart Evolution Challenge victory in as many events, when they won
round two of the Championship for production-class Lancers on this
weekend’s Brick & Steel Border Counties Rally.
Based in Jedburgh, the event featured seven stages on the eastern side
of the infamous Kielder Forest, renowned to contain some of the most
demanding rally stages in the world. For the first time in the event’s
history – and to spice things up – organisers ran the first two stages
in the dark on Friday evening.
Fastest of the Evolution Challenge crews through the first stage were
the eventual winners Barry/Brady, who stopped the clock 3.7 seconds
ahead of Simon Hughes/Craig Parry. Nik Elsmore/Craig Drew were third and
not happy with their pace, whilst Owen Murphy/Dai Roberts and Alan
Carmichael/Ivor Lamont were both caught out by the fog that had rapidly
appeared for the first two miles of SS1 and both went straight on at a
junction due to the poor visibility.
Hughes was the only driver who reported getting into any rhythm in SS2
and shot into the Evo Challenge lead ahead of Barry by 2.9 seconds, who
admitted he was a bit ragged and had lost time by going sideways too
often. Elsmore had a better stage and maintained third, whilst Murphy,
although hanging onto fourth, had lost third gear due to a selector
problem, which was consequently fixed during the overnight halt.
Hughes maintained his advantage on SS3 the next morning but then
momentarily visited a ditch in stage four and dropped to second. Elsmore
caught another car in SS4 which slowed him a little and, with Murphy’s
gearbox fixed he was now catching up the time he lost during the two
night-time stages. Carmichael admitted he was now cruising, having lost
too much time in the dark to make an impression on the leaders.
After the first service halt crews tackled the longest stage of the
rally: 15 miles in Harwood Forest. Barry was now flying – even with no
clutch for the last 3.7 miles due to a broken joint on the master
cylinder. But for Hughes it was a different story when he out-braked
himself going into a chicane and, with a 10-second penalty for hitting
the cones marking the man-made obstacle, he came away with a 40-second
deficit for collecting four of them.
Elsmore also lost time when he had to stop and change a puncture and
dropped to fifth. Murphy then inherited third, but was lucky to do so,
as his engine was running on three cylinders throughout the stage – the
problem traced to a faulty spark plug at the following service halt.
Barry now was almost a minute ahead of Hughes, but it nearly all went
wrong for the young Irishman on the road section to stage six, when the
car’s fuel pump cut-out. Luckily, he had a spare and was able to get
going again, but not before a few worrying moments.
Hughes knew he could now only win if Barry had a problem and
consolidated his second place, whilst Murphy had a good final pair of
stages and finished third. Carmichael took fourth, whilst Elsmore was
just relieved to make it home in fifth place.
At the finish Barry said: “It’s never easy! We had a few problems and so
I’m pleased to get to the finish, especially as this is my second
victory in the Evo Challenge and means we’ve had a 100% success rate so
far this season. I feel that we needed to win this weekend, as we may
not be so lucky on future events and things could get tougher from here
on.”
As well as winning the Mitsubishi series, Barry also won Group N and
finished fourth overall, which means he now has a four point lead in the
Evolution Challenge and tops the tables in MSA National Gravel Rally
Championship, with Hughes second.
The third round of both Championships takes place on 18th April, when
competitors return to Kielder Forest – this time the western side – for
the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria.
The 2009 Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge is supported by
Mitsubishi Motors UK, Ralliart, Pirelli tyres, Sunoco fuels, JR
Motorsports, Speedline Corse wheels, Carbone Lorraine brakes, Walkinshaw
Performance, Sparco racewear and PIAA lights - who sponsor the junior
award for under 25-year old drivers.
Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge
Round Two Results
1 Daniel Barry (Enniskerry)/Martin Brady (Navan) 59:09.9
2 Simon Hughes (Abergle)/Craig Parry (Llanymynech) 59:56.4
3 Owen Murphy (Cork)/Dai Roberts (Carmarthen) 1:03:22.4
4 Alan Carmichael(Ballymena)/Ivor Lamont (Ballymena) 1:05:08.4
5 Nik Elsmore (Coleford)/Craig Drew (Bream) 1:05:53.0
Championship positions after round two
Drivers
1 Daniel Barry 24
2 Simon Hughes 20
3 Owen Murphy 14
4 Nik Elsmore 13
5 Alan Carmichael 12
6 Andreas Magnusson 8
7 Neil Armstrong 4
Co-drivers
1 Martin Brady 24
2 Dai Roberts 14
3 Craig Drew 13
4 Ivor Lamont 12
5 Patrick Walsh 10
6 Craig Parry 10
7 Henrik Hulterskog 8
8 Max Ferri 4
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