Drama obviously didn't sleep last night as in the very first stage of the morning, SS23 Kershope, Jason Pritchard lost over 3 minutes when he was forced to change a wheel after suffering a puncture. This shook up the leaderboard, promoting Seb Perez in the Stratos up to 3rd. Elsewhere at the start of another 88 stage miles and 6 stages, Olver Solberg continued his blistering pace, seeingly not phased by the attrition rate or very obvious dangers to set the fastest time of 17:56 in Kershope 1, 6s faster than Ben Friend in 2nd. Seb Perez and Cathan McCourt came in in 4th and 5th respectively. The lost time Pritchard suffered had dropped him back down to 5th overall at the end of the stage. With still 2 days of rallying still to go, there's still everything to play for.
Many cars were caught out or had moments 2 corners from the end of Kershope 1 on a very slippy right hander. David Hopkins in the fabulous Sunbeam was one of those crews who lost time. The Spectator Army got the crew going again and the pair will continue.
The stage appeared to polish up as the crews worked their way through, leaving grip levels patchy at best, some areas becoming incredibly sketchy. Unfortunately Adam Milner and Roy Jarvis in their MK1 Escort Mexico, stopped in the stage after ending up in one of the many Kielder ditches and will not continue today.
Into the afternoon and back into Kershope and the trouble continued for the crews. Kevin Proctor in the Sapphire Cosworth went off and rolled in a ditch, unable to complete the stage and will not return to the stages. A further puncture for Pritchard causing another 3 minutes dropped. Other crews out of the rally for today are Adrien Hetherington (car 12) Kershope 1. Ieuan Evans stopped in SS25 Kershope 2, Mark Holmes and Neal James also stopping in Kershope 2. Killer Keilder living up to its name!
Worry for Seb Perez through Mount Common 1 as a burst hose caused steam to ploom out of the car. Thankfully the pair made it to service having set a decent time of 18:04, good enough for 7th fastest through.
Mount Common 2, ran in the dark brought further angst for some of the top runners. A rougher and slippier affair than the daytime version. Sacha Kak had a roll ending on his roof. After avoiding Sacha Kakad from 10 OA, Baz Stevenson-Wheeler also went off into the trees from 14th. Both crews are out of the cars and ok. Paul Thompson stopped to help them out of the car on the stage. Seb Perez made it through the stage a minute down nursing the broken hose on the Stratos. Cathan McCourt ended the stage with a punctured rear left but still managed to make up 13s thanks Perez's woes. McCourt fighting on. Barry Mckenna was 4th quickest through airing on the side of caution. Pritchard came through with a warning light on the dash and a rough sounding engine but managed to post 3rd quickest. Dyrig needed a complete gearbox change at the last service after issues started to creep in.
Kielder continues to throw the leaderboard in the air and then the news broke....
In the last stage of the day Harwood, Reports came in that our rally leader Oliver Solberg had stopped in the stage with halfshat trouble. It was later confirmed on his social accounts. Hopefully we'll see him under super rally rules tomorrow for the final day. Sad news after such an impressive performance on stages they are both unfamiliar with.
At the end of what was probably the toughest day of the rally so far, the top looks like this:
Martin McCormack +4:35:21
Seb Perez +4:57
Cathan McCourt +5:12
Jason Pritchard +8:37
Ben Friend +8:40
Dyfrig James +12:49
Barry McKenna +14:04
Neil Weaver +14:06
Mike Stuart +14:06
Daniel Keith Mennell +21.08
Monday, the final day of the RAC rally, serves up a total of 76 stage miles including the final monster 33 mile stage to finish up. The rally is by far over, still lots to fight for.
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