After a remarkable debut in Northern Ireland, where the Citroën DS3 R3 won Group R and clinched a superb fifth place overall on the Ulster Rally, the new car is on another mission. This time, the crew of Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle will be attempting to conquer France on the 62nd Rallye du Mont Blanc next weekend, round five of the French Championship.
With all eyes on Citroën’s new baby, the Irish champions will set off on a journey through 14 mountain special stages, totalling 206 competitive kilometres. The Rallye du Mont Blanc is characterised by a breathtaking series of climbs and descents, in the heart of skiing territory near Morzine, which takes in spectacular countryside featuring lakes, forests and majestic peaks. Read More »
Advertisements
County Durham rally driver Chris Anderson was yet again denied a good result when an accident robbed him of a promising finish at yesterday’s Stobart Rail Pendragon Stages Rally based in Penrith. 
Another mixed day up on Epynt caused chaos in the morning with the changing conditions. Peter Lloyd & Graham Handley (Impreza S14 WRC) set the inital pace with Damian Cole & Craig Drew (Focus WRC) keeping them honest with a couple of fastest stage times. Lloyd led by 33 seconds at the break with Eian Pritchard & Steve McPhee (Impreza S11 WRC) almost a minute back on Lloyd in third. In the first afternoon loop Cole halved the deficit on stages 5 & 6 and it was game on. Stage 7 saw disaster though as an excursion cost him over a minute, but he was lucky to have got away with nothing worse! Lloyd now had it in the bag with a 1 minute lead over Pritchard but on the final stage he had an excursion into a bog and it was rally over as the car was stuck. Pritchard took a fine win with Cole closing in to just 10 seconds behind. 2nd place saw Cole take maximum points and the National Asphalt title. His only title rival , Simon Mauger, took 3rd overall in his Escort MkII co-driven by Tracy Giddings. 
Young Kenyan rally talent Quentin Mitchell has impressed mightily on his first full day of the Toyota Zimbabwe Challenge Rally as the 24 year old ends the opening leg as the top junior rally driver despite limited knowledge of the stages and with virtually no testing in his brand new Subaru Impreza N2010. 