after Leg One
The UK’s first minor international rally driver, Tom Cave, arrived at the end of the first day of this year’s Rally Poland, the eighth round of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship, in 28th place overall and with a 1min10sec lead in the N3 class.
Cave had adopted a pragmatic approach to this event, realising that as it was a round of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy international one-make series, he would be facing stiff competition against no less than eight Group N Ford Fiesta STs built to the same specification as his car.
However, he was also keenly aware that because Rally Poland is making its debut in the modern WRC, the playing field would be level for all competitors. However, the similarity of the stages to those in Latvia, where he spent two years competing, may work to his advantage.
Despite a conservative start, Cave and co-driver Craig Parry took the N3 class and Fiesta stage win on all but one of the seven stages that formed the first leg of the event, including the superspecial stage on Thursday evening. They held the class lead from the very first stage and by the end of the first leg, had increased this to 1min10sec over Emre Yurdakul, who is almost two minutes ahead of Patrick Anglade, third in class.
Speaking at the end-of-leg service, Tom said: “It’s been a very good day today. We’ve had no problems with the car at all and have managed to keep out of trouble and have a clean run. The stages became quite rough, especially on the second pass – it felt like the car spent most of its time on the sumpguard, the ruts were that deep.
“I have to admit to being slightly surprised at our pace compared with the FSTi regulars. I can only think that our experience in Latvia for the last two years really is helping. The stages here are very similar – extremely quick and requiring total commitment and the similarity has really boosted my confidence.
“There’s still a very long way to go though – tomorrow [Saturday] is a very tough day, with four stages each more than 30km long, so it will be a case of keeping everything clean and tidy and staying out of trouble.”
