September 8, 2022
Class champion Matthew Jackson seals the deal on the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally, Minisport podium for Cat Lund in Belgium, and Ambassador news from Rali Ceredigion.
Matthew Jackson
Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally
Congratulations to Carbon Positive Motorsport Ambassador Matthew Jackson & co-driver Sasha Heriot who have been confirmed as class champions in the Motorsport UK Pirelli Ravenol Welsh Rally Championship, after a class win on the Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Rally.
Matthew Jackson and Sasha Heriot on their way to the class win. Image credit: Paul Mitchell
Starting second in the R2 class on the road, Matthew & Sasha were hoping to put right the technical issues that hindered their performance on July’s Nicky Grist Stages. 170 competition cars left the ceremonial start in Ludlow Racecourse heading West to tackle 45 very fast, but technical forest stages. With an unsettled forecast and showers looming, a safe tyre choice was taken by the Carbon Positive Motorsport supported crew.
Returning to the midday service after the first loop of stages, Matthew & Sasha held 2nd in class, the pair not having the best run over the mornings stages: "This morning has been okay. We are here and in one piece which is an achievement in itself, there’s lots of other competitors lining the stages out there! That being said, we have been too cautious this morning, it’s taken longer than expected to get the feeling back after a 2 month break. The plan for the afternoon is to up the pace and aim for that 1st in class position!"
Matthew and Sasha with their class trophies at the finish. Picture Matthew Jackson Rallying.
After a thorough check over by C1-R Motorsport team, the Ford Fiesta R2T pairing headed back out to the repeated loop of 3 stages with an increase in confidence and determination. With the new-found pace and some misfortunate for one of their rivals, Matthew & Sasha moved into the class lead on the penultimate stage where they would remain to the end of the event. The final victory margin being 19 seconds over their nearest rival.
"We are over the moon with the result. We were back in form this afternoon, back to driving how I know I can and that showing in the 2 fastest stage times. I just absolutely love driving this car, over these stages, nothing beats that feeling when everything comes together. To seal the class championship here is the icing on the cake!"
With 4 class wins from 5 events, Matthew & Sasha have been confirmed as the W4 (R2) class champions in the Welsh Championship. A fine achievement in their first season in the new car.
Cat Lund
Omloop van Vlaanderen
Rally co-driver Cat Lund returned to Belgium last weekend, where she was competing on the Omloop van Vlaanderen (Tour of Flanders) in a classic Mini alongside Kevin Haselden as part of the Minisport Cup.
Photo credit www.nicohistoricrally.be
An eventful five wet stages on Friday night saw many of the Minisport Cup crews with problems, including a roll into the ditch for Shane Gamble which cancelled the stage. A cautious drive from Kevin saw the pair to the end of the day with no issues, and all bar one of Saturday's 14 stages were dry. The crew were able to bring the Mini home 3rd in class, with top honours going to Ryan Taylor and Lucy Wilding on their first Omloop, which also secured Ryan the Minisport Cup Championship win.
For the rally, Cat used Carbon Positive Motorsport's International Offsetting service. Working in partnership with Highland Carbon, one of the UK's leading carbon offsetting project developers and providers, Carbon Positive Motorsport offers a range of carbon offsetting services for EU based motorsport events and competitors.
Osian Pryce and Garry Pearson
Get Connected Rali Ceredigion
Carbon Positive Ambassadors Osian Pryce and Garry Pearson both finished in the top 10 on last weekend's Rali Ceredigion, which took place on the closed roads around the seaside town of Aberystwyth in Wales.
Photo of Osian Pryce courtesy Rali Ceredigion/ Jakob Ebrey Photography
Osian was second overall, after taking a relatively cautious approach in order to score maximum BRC points, rather than risk it all by fighting for his second Get Connected Rali Ceredigion victory. He said, “I’m chuffed to bits. We came here to do a job towards our British Championship campaign and that’s exactly what we’ve done. It would have been good to go all out for the win and retain my Rali Ceredigion title, but if I’m going to lose it to anyone then I’m happy it’s Hayden. It’s been great to compete alongside him this weekend."
Photo thanks to Garry Pearson Rallying
Duns rally driver Garry Pearson underlined his asphalt pace, with a thrilling duel for third spot on the podium over two hard-fought days. Moving from their 4th overall overnight position up into third place during the opening loop of stages on Sunday, the pair clipped a rock on the nearside during the final stage of the morning, handing them a puncture. The crew headed to service back in fourth position, but despite setting a series of top three times over the final loop, missed out on the podium by just eight seconds. “I`'m extremely pleased with the pace we showed this weekend considering the experience of the guys around us,” enthused Pearson at the finish. “To jump into a Rally2 car and compete at the sharp end of the British Championship takes a lot of seat time so to say we were so close to our second podium of the season on a surface I`m not that familiar with, is very positive for the future”.
Well done to all our Ambassadors.
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