Kent’s Junior Rally Driver and Prospeed Motorsport Finalist Stefan Davis competed with co-driver Craig Burgess this weekend on the Pirelli National Rally which followed the British Rally Championship Round the Pirelli International. The event was a loose gravel forest event based outside the town of Carlisle and the crew had a mega nine and half hour journey up to Cumbria.
The car was finished about 15 minutes before the rally start after the dramas of the previous rally, despite setting times early on lying 2nd out of the 20 Peugeots mechanical problems and engine failure saw them fall to 6th place. With a new engine barely run in and un-tuned the odds were always set against the crew. The crew got off to a steady start but with a change of damper settings for the event it proved to be a bad move. “We changed the damper settings to handle the big crest and jumps in Keilder Forest to make the car more stable, but it just didn’t suit my driving style and I found the car way too lively” said Kent’s Youngster.
The crew were setting mid table times for the first part of the day struggling with the new set-up. The crew tackled the magnificent purpose built spectator stage P-Zero and set a competitive time over the jumps and water splashes designed to please the crowds! Stefan did adjust to suspension for the later stages and set constant top five times but the set-up still wasn’t working for him. All was not lost however and the crew came home in 5th place and 3rd in the Junior Rally Driver Class, with only a damaged steering rack after striking a rack on the last corner of the rally which is better than a lot of crews tackling the notorious Killer Keilder stages.
Stefan would like to give a massive thanks to sponsor Prospeed Motorsport who supported Stefan to compete on the event after impressing them whilst taking part in their Rally Scholarship. Stefan’s past and recent mechanical dramas have left him worse than penniless and he simply would not have been able to compete on the Pirelli without the backing. Stefan also would like to give massive thanks to AB Motorsport who have helped Stefan out working through the night to build and install a new engine for the rally which did not miss a beat all day despite being hardly run in.
“We are lying 3rd out the 21 Scholarship entrants in the table now, which is the best position I have ever had, but we just don’t have any budget to contest anymore rounds. It is absolutely gutting because we are probably in the best possible position to challenge in the scholarship we have ever been and with the car that’s now reliable and a great new engine but you have to face reality that without help you can’t win anything in this sport.” said Stefan.
The next scholarship round is the Mid-Wales Rally based in Newtown and the crew are looking forward to be back on the pace with a tuned and more refined machine.
