National journalist finishes 1st, first time out!
Just 48 hours after the launch of the Daily Mail Rally Challenge, sports journalist Jonathan McEvoy clinched an amazing top podium position on his rally debut in the tough Plains Rally in mid Wales – he was 1st, first time out!
Supported by Sportinglife.com, McEvoy was navigating for publicist and broadcaster Tony Jardine in his very first event but converted his tough baptism into an amazing: first rally, first cup finish!
The duo of McEvoy (Fulham, London) and Tony Jardine (Ascot) finished 63rd overall out of a 133 finishers after a record 179 competitors started the Plains Rally from Welshpool in mid Wales on Saturday 23rd September.
After 180 tough route miles including 9 special stages totally nearly 60 miles, the Castrol supported show room class Ford Fiesta came through the field to win the standard class by a mere 19 seconds at the end of the gruelling dust-filled day.
This was Welsh-born (Ryhl) McEvoy’s second big test as he embarked on the Daily Mail Rally Challenge. His first had been a mere 48 hours earlier after the launch at Silverstone when Jonathan had to pass stringent exams and a medical test to obtain his navigators national licence from the governing body of motor sport in the UK, the MSA.
His second big challenge was his first ever rally from hot seat alongside Liverpool-born Tony Jardine. The event ran through some of the most demanding Welsh forests where part of the World Championship Rally GB will run in December – the target date for McEvoy to make it as a fully fledged international Rally co-driver.
The team, ProSpeed, are now working against the clock to enter and finish enough events before Rally GB to enable Jonathan to obtain his international licence.
McEvoy has been mentored by top rally co-driver Nicky Grist, winner of 21 World Rallies, who has the task of preparing the Mail man for his quick fix rally debut and is responsible for his short cut to World Rally status in December. Grist, who successfully guided him through his test and MSA exams at Silverstone after the launch, said: “Jon went through two intense training sessions in 48 hours – the second one on the eve of the Plains Rally. Despite information overload, I had a good feeling he was taking it in. Not only did Jonathan grasp the complexity of timing and navigation systems, but he was also able to shout the pace note instructions to Tony at over 100mph which was remarkable and makes it one of the best debuts for an amateur I have ever seen. No wonder they took the class win, it was truly excellent.”
Team principal Olly Marshall of ProSpeed, was impressed as McEvoy endured a tough baptism. “He was thrown right into the firing line. Watching his face in his final cramming session with Nicky the night before I wouldn’t have thought he’d make it. On the day he rose to the challenge in impressive fashion - he even looked like a proper co-driver – but what a start, straight onto the podium,” said Marshall.
Broadcaster and publicist, Tony Jardine, a rally veteran with 10 WRC finishes, with 14 class wins under his belt was delighted with Jonathan’s debut, but warned against over confidence. “I was gob smacked by his progress. At the start it was like ‘Silence of the Lambs’ in the first stages in the morning, John, said to me that he thought he’ll give it a go reading the pace notes, yet he made meteoric progress in just a five stages. He read them out at high speed whilst keeping his calm, on one stage we were flat out downhill at approximately 110mph for nearly five minutes, one mistake would have meant a major high speed accident but he was very impressive. I’m just delighted by his performance this weekend, but he mustn’t get complacent and think that he has now mastered the art of co-driving, he must continue to make good progress. It’s like the golfer who thinks he has perfected his swing and then loses it in the next game. In rallying, over confidence won’t just put us in the rough, we’ll be in the trees upside down. Now we have to put in the same level of momentum into the next event or we will lose the race against time to take him to international level,” commented Jardine.
Jonathan McEvoy is not getting carried away as he said: “I’m just amazed, I’m really blown away by this result. I understand the enormity of the task ahead, the intensity and the responsibility are huge. One minute I was trying to navigate around tiny forest tracks, next I was on a stage crashing through huge boulders. I was sure the tyres would burst any moment but Kumho assured me we had special types with new side walls which could cope –and they did.
The team and I were so busy concentrating on getting me up to speed that we ignored checking the results, we were just looking for a finish so I could get an upgrade signature on my licence. You can imagine my shock the next day when the organisers phoned and said ‘Why weren’t you at prize giving to collect your cup?!’
I’m still coming to terms with my dream debut but I will be even better prepared for the next event and promised Tony to keep my feet firmly on the ground!.”
