What a dissapointing rally............
SS1 - Rally Poland:
I decided to go for wets due to the later stages so tried to take it easy on the first run through the stage to save the tires and go for a full attack second run through.
SS2 - Humaläki R:
See SS1. Had one scare but managed to keep the car on the road and get to the finish.
SS3 - Rally Poland:
Here goes.....
Johan said that he would be reading the notes quicker so that I had the chance to speed up and it sort of worked but ran wide at on the 90 rights and climbed a rock. This teared the oil pipes clean off and we had to spend time in the rain trying to get it fixed which we managed to do but the optimal time for the stage had been done (what actually happened was that I understeered on the slippery surface and head on hit the rock killing the engine
)
SS4 - Humalamäki R:
We managed to get to the next stage and was just looking to get to the finish but it was not too be as the temporary fix un-hitched itself which saw us have an oil leak and we had to stop again to try and get it fixed better so we could even get to the Service Area.
Again we managed to get it fixed but once again the maximum time for the stage had been reached (In actuality I went sideways over one of the many crests and sideswiped a well placed rock when I landed without a chance to try and avoid it once we got over the crest and stage over
).
SERVICE
SS5 - Kaihuavara II:
It went well for about 1 minute of the stage, the service crew did a great work on the car getting it repaired. I'm affraid I wasn't as nice to it. Missheard a note and went straight in the first hairpin and with no run off I said hellow to another set of stones, engine stalled and concussioned
We did our best to get it started and it finally worked but the highest time allowed on the stage had once again been reached........
SS6 - Sikakama II:
Before we came to the stage Johan said some well chosen word, of which about 90% isn't suitable for these forums, but it looked like it made the difference.
As soon as the stage started I was in the zone and Johan was steadily speeding up the notes. Some notes, which I had written though, didn't suit the pace at which we were going (this was true for all of these II stages
) and this saw us go slower than we should have but we were happy after the stage, Johan can be quoted saying "That was really good Jonatan, keep this up now!"
SS7 - Autiovaara II:
Except for Johan reading a note wrong which saw me looking for a 3 left when it was a:
Höger 4 till
osynlig vänster 3 till Höger 4 i omedelbar Hårnål Vänster;
Right 4 to
Invisable Left 3 to Right 4 in Instant Hairpin Left;
but fortunately we had low enough speed to not fly into the scenery. After Johan said sorry we were on it again and finished without any problems
SS8 - Mustaselka II:
Went a tad bit slowly due to the notes being a bit off so didn't have the confidence to go all out but we finished without crashing out which was a +
SS9 - Humalamaki:
The crest before the same crest as when we were going the other way on the stage and the rear end hit the same stone when I lost the car a tad bit over the crest. Fortunately we had no wheel damage and we could get to the finish of the stage and the following Service.
SERVICE
SS10 - Kaihuavaara:
A fairly good run through with me trying a bit too hard to go quicker than was possible which resulted in a spin which lost us a few seconds
SS11 - Sikakama:
Tried to go quickly here but had a few small offs which lost us time so went into controlled mode towards the end of the stage
SS12 - Autiovaara:
Went through the stage in damage limitation as the stage has seen me crash quite a few times while practicing. Johan did a great job here and we still managed a resonably time
SS13 - Mustaselka:
What a stage, what a car, what a co-driver, what a hairpin.......
Johan was reading the notes at a pace I've never heard before and that saw me drive like a scolded rat. Only one moment on the stage was a scare and that was when I didn't hear a note and went slightly wide banging into a tree which then also saw us go wide a couple of turns later as I hadn't heard the note because we hit the tree
But we managed to get past that and that we got the win on the stage is awesome but Craig must have had a small problem of his own
SERVICE
SS14 - Humalamäki:
Again tried to go quickly through the stage and again the same bloody rock saw us spin.......... But again a bit of luck as no damage was sustained and we managed to get to the finish of the rally.
I'm affraid that if I crash in the next rally it'll have to come out of my wage as our purse is getting thinner and thinner because I can't keep the car on the road
Thanks for the rally and looking forward to the next one