Front strut destroys McEvoy’s hopes of finishing first ever World Rally On the last day of Wales Rally GB – the final round of the World Rally Championship (WRC) - the Castrol-backed Ford Fiesta of media duo Tony Jardine and Jonathan McEvoy was forced to retire from the event with just two stages to go.
The Sportinglife.com team suffered suspension problems with a broken front strut, dashing the hopes of McEvoy, from the Daily Mail, who has trained endlessly over the last three months with the aim of finishing his maiden WRC event. Their suspension failed on stage 15 – Trawscoed – but they still managed to make it back to service in Swansea in time for immediate repairs. ProSpeed, the crew who has seen McEvoy through all his training events, set to work and fixed the suspension with just seconds to spare.
However, the suspension collapsed again on the next road section, eight miles from service. Despite the best efforts of the media team to complete road-side repairs, the clock was against them and they had to admit that the toughest round of the WRC had beaten them. Driver Jardine showed his bitter disappointment at dropping out from the event after completing all but two stages of the 17, covering more than 186 stage miles.
Jardine said: “I am totally gutted for Jon as he richly deserved a finish. To put it into context, he is a national newspaper journalist who has been thrown into a deep, dark forest but he has emerged with his head held high. As my navigator, he has been responsible for helping me set times among the best young drivers in the world competing in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International. That’s no mean feat; it’s a great achievement.
But to fall at the final hurdle is a cruel blow.” Although the Sportinglife.com team was not entered into the Sporting Trophy Fiesta Series, they were on track to finish third, an achievement Jardine was keen to credit to his rookie co to-driver. Jardine continued: “Dropping out so close to the finish is a bitter pill to swallow, especially as we were just about to go into battle for 5th place in group N3 with the Luxembourg team of car 113, driven by Gilles Schammel.
We were one second in front of Schammel overall and had every chance of gaining a place in our class. I have never driven so competitively in any international event and am pleased with my own performance among young drivers. I have sent a very strong message - there is life in the old dog yet!”
Nicky Grist, winner of 21 world rally titles including 17 while co-driving for Colin McRae, was Jon’s mentor leading up the Wales Rally GB. Grist had warned the recently-initiated navigator that the last leg would be the sting in the tail of the event, with Brechfa and Trawscoed renowned for catching out even the most experienced competitors. Grist’s fears had become reality. On the morning stages it was a mixed performance from Jardine and McEvoy and the two long starting stages were wet and treacherous from the storms the night before. The media duo had a fair number of offs which were small misjudgments.
Jardine said: “If you get out of the line you get easily dragged into the mud.” The first stage of the day started badly and they dropped time as Jon lost his rhythm with the pace notes. It was even muddier on the second stage, but with their reliable Kumho tyres they managed to return to the kind of performance they expected of themselves. When Jardine and McEvoy retired from the event they were running 64th overall, out of 110 starters, and sixth in class.
McEvoy, although not making it to the finish of the event, said: “Learning to be a world-class co-driver has been a fantastic experience from start to finish and although completing Wales Rally GB would have been a dream come true for me, I will definitely be back soon.” At the front, Marcus Gronholm from Finland made it look easy in his Ford Focus taking his second Rally GB victory with Austrian Manfred Stohl came in a distant second.
