Feeling flat

The rally was always going to be a big challenge and just before the first stage started the rumours were in full flow that rain was fast approaching.

We kept to our plan that it wouldn't come fast enough and went on soft slick tyres. It paid off and we held the joint lead of the rally after the first day.  

Short and sweet! 

The next day started off with a minor glitch with our handbrake not working on the first stage of the day. Worse was to come. 

Although we fixed the the handbrake after the stage on the very next stage half way through we picked up a rear puncture with 10km still to go! 

We didn't feel anything other than the tyre getting softer and softer with the car moving around at the rear wildly. 

These stages were low grip and with lots of debris at the sides and sometimes on the road we were miffed after driving around some rocks earlier in the stage. 

Never mind, it was early days and feeling confident with the car we knew we could stand a good chance of pulling back the 40 second deficit over the remainder of the rally. 

The second pass was going well and with one stage left in the day we had reduced the gap to the leaders to 30 seconds. 

Game 'back' on! 

We set off into the last 28km stage of the day on a bit of a mission! The car was feeling great underneath us. 

However 8km in, all was to change. The slightest bump through the steering wheel sent a vibration through my hands and a shiverdown my spine..... we had touched something with a front wheel on a flat blind 6th gear left hander,... puncture, I thought of instantly. 

It was confirmed on the next right hander with the car understeering wildly. Aaaaaaahhh!! We had no choice to stop and change it in the stage loosing just more than two minutes. Gutted. 

The final day we could do no more than drive for the finish as the gap was too big in front and behind. 

The pace is there and all we need is some luck, the hard work of training and testing and making sure we do our homework for the next round in and around the famous world war fields of Ypres. 

There is only a small trip to the world-famous Le Mans 24hr before that supporting of course...Peugeot. 

Can't wait for Ypres!!