Multiple British National Rally Champion Marcus Dodd took an excellent victory on this weekend’s Swansea Bay National Rally. The Poole driver was never headed as he led the rally from start to finish in his Flitewise.com, Pirelli Tyres, Sunoco Fuels and Sunseeker Powerboats backed Hyundai Accent WRC.
Terrible weather on the Friday prior to the event was to cause numerous problems for the organisers of the fifth round of the MSA National Gravel Rally Championship, but a relaxed Marcus was confident of success prior to the rally. Together with Manx co-driver Andrew Bargery, Dodd was the defending winner of the event from 2006 and was looking forward to a good battle with the likes of Steve Perez, Roger Duckworth and Andy Burton.
The HPM Motorsport team had a clear plan of attack for the event. Flat out from the start. True to his word, Dodd was at his attacking best on the opening test in Margam. Marcus was a clear 17 seconds faster than Perez and the rest were even further back. Marcus and Andrew were pushing hard and the times were coming good. Dodd was able to keep Perez at bay whilst Burton briefly challenged before mechanical problems dropped him down the order.
Perez had no answer to the Hyundai in the wet Welsh valleys and Marcus was pleased to be able to control the pace from the front. With the penultimate stage in Walters Arena cancelled due to the exceptionally inclement July weather, Marcus arrived at the final test in Margam a clear 26 seconds ahead of Perez and co-driver Claire Mole.
The HPM pair eased through the test setting second fastest time in the process. Perez won the stage, but was unable to take the victory as he finished the rally 21.4 seconds behind the dominant duo.
Marcus was delighted with a job well done in difficult conditions:
“Firstly I’d like to thank everyone connected with the running of the event for making it happen. The conditions the day before the rally were atrocious and it is a great credit to everyone involved that the event ran at all. On a more personal level, I’d like to thank Andrew and the HPM team for their efforts as we pushed really hard on the opening stage and controlled the pace from there. The car felt fantastic and despite the challenging conditions we felt very comfortable all day long. The pressure is moving towards Steve Perez now in the championship as we are scoring very well and he needs to beat us on the remaining rounds. With a trip to Ireland coming up it should make life interesting for us all. It looks like being a very close battle to the end of the year and we’re well up for it!”
Unfortunately Marcus was the only HPM Motorsport driver to make it back to the finish at Swansea Docks. Harry Dodd had been up to 22nd overall after the fourth stage but a mechanical problem on the last stage of the rally would see him and co-driver Richard Skinner forced to retire. The series now moves to the Killarney Forest Rally in Ireland which is a rally that neither Marcus nor his championship rivals have contested before.
