Powell, Telfer take rally honours

Harold Morley’s Subaru Impreza was miraculously cleared off the docks at 8 pm on Friday night, thanks to Roger McKenzie.

Thunder rumbled very early just before the start of the event and it was not from up above, it emanated from the exhaust of John Powell’s ex Didier Auriol Toyota Corolla WRC V2, which had recently arrived from Norway.

Awesome is the only way to describe the sound and sight of the Corolla.

It looked like the rally was going to be a repeat of the previous event but the rains came and blessed the day’s proceedings.

First car on the line was the Subaru Impreza WRC of Harold Morley and Geoffrey Goddard who posted a time of 3:44.

They were followed by John Powell and Nick Telfer in the Toyota Corolla WRC sponsored by Toyota Trinidad and Tobago Limited/Stag /TT Moorings & Launch and their time of 3:32 was pretty impressive for their first time out competitively in this car.

The Castrol/Rallymac Mitsubisi Lancer Evo 6 of Barry Mckenzie and temp co-driver Darrel Ramesar were having serious fueling problems and looked like they would not make the start.

However they did manage to limp to the stage and they proved their skills on the wet surface posting the best time for that run of 3:30.

In the two-wheel drive class action was just as keen and again reliability issue put the very fast Nissan Sunny of James Harris out of the event, leaving Shelford Robinson to battle with Rezan Mohammed for the lead.

The stage remarkably dried out really quickly and the grip level returned. Those spectators lucky enough to be at the jumps and the big ninety corner were treated to some high flying action. Look for the photos online soon.

The Stag/Ultra/Josef’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 of Ainsley Lochan and temporary co-driver Justin Wallace were on the pace and posted solid times to keep them in the running.

This team then decided they needed to get past the pace and while doing so, Ainsley clipped the inside of the corner and the right wheels lost contact to such an extent that his left mirror almost touched the ground.

As spectators were heard screaming in anticipation of a bad accident about to unfold in front of their eyes, Lochan though showed everyone how wings are earned and not bought.

He recovered and blasted into and out of the next corner to the applause and relief of the spectators.

The stage according to the WRC Drivers was a true test of the mettle of our drivers, 6km of everything a driver needs on a stage: flat out corners, tight corners, hairpin corners, dips, bumps, jumps and more jumps with some really crazy blind flat over the hill runs, a true driver’s paradise route.

James Harris in the B13 was the only retirement for the day having had a puncture on SS2 and then gearbox failure on the next stage.

Barry Mckenzie in the Castrol/Rallymac Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 rallied on in true motorsport style although insufficient fuel to the engine kept this team at bay on the Bronte stage.

Ainsley Lochan lost the rear drive shaft on SS5 and only gave away two seconds on the stages that followed whilst in FWD.

The excitement will continue next month when the rest of the Caribbean entries for our Invitational Rally to be held on August 19 and 20 arrive and we begin the graceful sideways and airborne dance all over again.

Official Results

Class—

WRC: 1 John Powell, Nicholas Telfer (Toyota Trinidad & Tobago Limited/Stag /TTML Toyota Corolla WRC V2) 24.00;

2 Harold Morley, Geoffrey Goddard (Sunbeach Subaru Impreza WRC) 25.15

Group 3A: 1 Ainsley Lochan, Justin Wallace (Stag/ Ultra/ Josef’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) 24.49; 2 Barry McKenzie, Darryl Ramesar (Rallymac/Castrol/Sweet Tamarind/Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 24:53); 3 Colin Khan, Richard Ramsingh (ESSO/ Flower Time Subaru Impreza WRX ) 26:44

Group 1-4 & 1-3: 1 Rezan Mohammed, Arshad Mondro (Mitsubishi Lancer GSR) 30:00; 2 Franklin Seegobin, Kurt De Freitas (Daiman Publishing Toyota Corolla FX ) 2:24; 3 Shelford Robinson, Rajesh Ganar (Tire Clinic 2000 Nissan Sunny) 33:20

Overall— 1 John Powell, Nicholas Telfer (Toyota Trinidad & Tobago Limited /Stag /TTML Toyota Corolla WRC V2) 24.00; 2 Ainsley Lochan, Justin Wallace (Stag/Ultra/Josef’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) 24.49; 3 Barry McKenzie, Darryl Ramesar (Rallymac/Castrol/Sweet Tamarind/Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6) 24:53