Ieuan Rowlands secured a well-deserved second place in the TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup on Saturday’s (11th September) Park System Stages Rally in Newton Stewart, Southwest Scotland.  The Llan Ffestiniog based driver endured a day fraught with problems, but battled on to claim twenty-five valuable championship points, which means he maintains his position at the top of the championship leader board.

Rowlands, and his Dolgellau co-driver Kelvin Savage, were left to rue what might have been after a puncture cost them dearly on the fifth stage of the event.  They chose to attack right from the very start of the rally, and duly set fastest time on the first test of the day, despite not being entirely comfortable with either the car or the pace notes on the very technical and twisty stage.

The longer and more flowing second stage allowed Rowlands, a Harlech and District Motor Club member, to settle into a comfortable pace and rebuild his confidence in the cars handling.  However, a slow puncture and a broken front shock absorber meant the Welshman dropped seven seconds to his rivals.  Luckily, a service halt before stages three and four meant that Rowlands and his team had time to change the damaged components.

With his Peugeot 206 back to full health, the CAMsport backed driver promptly set fastest time on both stages three and four.  Despite being warned that the fifth stage of the rally was extremely rocky Rowlands knew he could not afford to back off too much in order to preserve the car, such is the frantic pace in one make rally championships.  Halfway through the fifteen mile Black Loch test the crew picked up a puncture in the front left hand tyre.  They decided to carry on to the end of the stage, destroying the wheel and tyre in the process, rather than stop and change the wheel in the stage and concede valuable time.  An earlier impact with a rock had also damaged the fuel pump and as a result the car was intermittently cutting out.

At the end of the stage a relieved Rowlands was quick to praise the strength of the TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup cars.

“I am impressed at how strong these cars are because we drive them so hard and always on the edge, yet they just keep going.  The stages up here in Scotland are notoriously rocky and rough, but in a one make rally championship the pace is so fast you can’t afford to back off.”

The rough conditions on stage five also accounted for the demise of Rowlands main championship rival.  Stuart Jones hit a rock and the resulting engine damage forced his retirement.  Rowlands was happy to still be in the rally, albeit now back in fourth place and over a minute adrift of the leader as a result of his fifth stage dramas, even though he had held a thirty-second lead going into stage five.

Despite the huge time deficit, Rowlands knew how easily a time consuming puncture could be collected and that a win would enable himself and Kelvin to clinch the title ahead of the final round of the championship.  They elected to put in a late charge and a characteristic performance that saw them claw back twenty-eight seconds, from leader Mike Faulkner, over the course of the last two stages.  As a result Rowlands, in his Sbardun backed machine, moved up to second place behind Faulkner, having set fastest time on five out of the seven stages on the rally.

At the finish of the rally Rowlands congratulated the rally winner and considered what still needs to be done in order for him to seal the 2004 TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup Championship.

“Mike drove very well today and he took a well deserved win.  That means that the championship is still undecided but it will be settled on the Bulldog rally. There will be a huge battle on; we have driven these cars on their limit for most of the season and for it to go down to the final round of the championship is remarkable.  I am hoping for a good clean run and for a bit of the luck which seems to have deserted us lately.  The last few events have certainly been character building.”

The final round of the TOTAL Peugeot 206 Super Cup championship takes place in the forests of Mid-Wales on the Shrewsbury based Bulldog Rally on 23rd October.