On Swansea Bay Rally
Ffestiniog rally driver Ieuan Rowlands kept his 2004 TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup championship aspirations alive on Saturday (17th July) after producing a controlled drive on the fifth round of the series, the Swansea Bay Rally.
The 27 year old now has a healthy lead in the very competitive Peugeot supported one make rally championship after he finished second of all the 206 Super Cup contenders on the Swansea Bay rally.
The rally consisted of seven special stages, totalling nearly seventy-miles, in the forests of South Wales. They provide a stern test even for World Rally Championship competitors, who use the same stages on Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship. The fast flowing stages, lined by large drops, provided the competitors in the TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup with a worthy arena in which to do battle.
Rowlands started cautiously, he was third fastest of the Peugeot crews through the first stage, but he was still only seven seconds off the pace of stage winner Tom Boardman. Unfortunately for Rowlands he had damaged his shock absorbers during the stage, which meant he could not then make a characteristic charge up the leader board on the second stage of the day.
With young Stuart Jones setting a blistering pace at the front of the field, and with Rowlands shock absorber problems worsening, he elected to back off and preserve the car until the problems could be rectified at the service halt.
With Rowlands 206 back in rude health for the afternoon stages the CAMsport backed driver was able to choose a comfortable pace at which to drive for the remainder of the event. The time lost as a result of the morning’s shock absorber problems was too great to recover from and with another rally win looking unlikely Rowlands opted for second place and a valuable collection of championship points.
Rowlands, a Harlech and District Motor Club member, was also buoyed by the return to competition of close friend and technical advisor Geoff Jones. The Maccynlleth based preparation expert was making a welcome return to competition after being injured in an accident on a rally a number of months ago. He guided his showroom specification Subaru Impreza to an incredible sixth overall on the rally.
Rowlands, sponsored by Spardun, once again produced a mature drive and showed he is able to judge the pace perfectly in order to guarantee a result. His mechanical sympathy also shone through as he guided an ailing car to yet another finish, on unfamiliar stages, to keep his 100% finishing record in Peugeot 206’s intact.
Rowlands will be hoping to extend his championship lead further still when the TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup Rally Championship circus travels to the formidable Epynt military ranges for the next round of the series on 29th August.
