Disappointing Pirelli for Alister
May 16, 2006

Alister McRae’s result on last weekend’s Pirelli International Rally was not as successful as he had hoped. The last minute deal supported by Pirelli gave him and co-driver Gordon Noble the opportunity to compete on the opening round of the British Rally Championship.

A Subaru Impreza N11 was hired from Kenny McKinstry. With no time for a pre-event test Alister could not expect to be on the pace as it was on the first stage that he drove the car in anger. Braking hard into a square junction he picked up a front wheel puncture, the tyre came off the rim fairly quickly dropping him over 1.5minutes on the leading car. This dropped him well off the leader board after only the first stage.

He spent the first day getting the suspension more to his liking but lost further time on the days final three stages when the gearbox stuck in third gear. On the final day with transmission problems sorted he was recording top three stage times. With all his problems and the pace of the event it was not the result he wanted however he did well to salvage seventh overall.

Alister is now looking forward to competing on the Zulu Rally in South Africa which starts in Durban on Friday 26th May. He will be driving a Jardine Lloyd Thompson supported Mitsubishi Evo 8 run by Neil Allport Motorsport from New Zealand with Gordon Noble co-driving.

Commenting is closed for this article.

previous article •  next article