Hamilton makes successful return to rallying despite tough conditions
After a two year break from the co-driving seat, F1 journalist Maurice Hamilton jumped at the chance of competing on the Rallye Sunseeker (26-27 February) alongside Sky Sports presenter Tony Jardine. Rallying an MG ZR the media pairing finished first in class N1 and 30th overall in the Bournemouth-based event, which was also the opening round of the MSA Gravel Rally Championship. Despite no rainfall on Saturday, the poor conditions faced by competitors in the forests around Ringwood meant that stage eight of the rally, Stapehill, was cancelled.
Standing water on Stapehill was the reason for the organisers just running ten full stages, with the rally having officially started in Poole on Friday night and finishing the following evening by Bournemouth Pier on the seafront. Delighted with his first in class trophy,
Hamilton commented, “Rallying is a great passion of mine and I always look forward to getting back out there on the stages. It’s been a fun weekend, and although it was difficult due to the conditions, we just wanted to get stuck in and finish as best as we could. It was fantastic to secure our first in class position. I must say a big thank you to Tony and the ProSpeed team for inviting me to join them once again on a rally.”
Driver and President of the Southern Car Club, Tony Jardine, has competed in numerous Rallye Sunseeker events and said, “That was actually the toughest Rallye Sunseeker for at least ten years, but it was a great challenge. We were up to our axles in mud on certain parts of the rally and it was the right decision for stage eight to be called off, it would have just taken out too many competitors.”
Jardine continued, “Apart from a small spin on special stage six, we did well to keep our MG on the right tracks. Maurice is one of the best journalist co-drivers there is, and his time keeping, pace note calling and general approach to rallying is brilliant. Our trusty ProSpeed boys, from the York based outfit, did a superb job in service and thanks to Kumho for tyres that handled all the punishment that the event’s rough ground could throw at us! ” Winning the Rallye Sunseeker for an amazing seventh time was Marcus Dodd, in his Hyundai, finishing 33.7 seconds ahead of Andrew Burton who was competing in the same class.
