Isle of Man Sports Aid Foundation supported co-driver Rob Fagg kept his Super 1600 title dream alive at the weekend with second place in the class on the weekends Trackrod Rally Yorkshire. Partnering Shropshire’s James Wozencroft the pair continue to lead the class going into the final round in December, Wales Rally GB.

The Pickering based rally in North Yorkshire would be an ultra high speed test for Rob and his MSA British Rally Elite member driver James Wozencroft.  The pair have been consistent throughout the 2006 Tesco 99 British Rally Championship, and their strong finishing record has resulted in them being at the top of the Super 1600 points table after some solid performances this year.  The 2005 BRC 'Stars of the Future' Champions faced a massive step up from their 1400cc Suzuki Ignis to the all singing and dancing Super 1600 car, offering nearly double the power.

After wet and muddy conditions on the pre-event recce, it was a sunny and dry Yorkshire that greeted the crews on Saturday morning.  With Championship pace setter Guy Wilks once again setting blistering times in his similar Ignis S1600, the Suzuki Finance backed pairing were content to fight for the runner up spot, battling against the challenges of the Team Stobart Ford Fiesta S1600's of Barry Clark and former works Ford WRC driver Roman Kresta.  The occasional damp sections were causing a few moments amongst crews, but they were happy to be right in the middle of the battle for second in the Dunlop backed Suzuki early on.

The Thompson Garages and Mexperience.com team were more than holding their own in the likes of Cropton and Gale Rigg.  Just tenths of seconds were separating James from the Fiesta drivers on stages, and the battle looked set to go all the way to the finish.  Kresta was the first to bow out of the running, as he developed mechanical problems and was forced to retire.  That left James and Scotland's Barry Clark to battle it out over the final few stages.

It was nip and tuck all the way, but as James got the hammer down to pursue Clark, as the Stobart Ford driver began to experience gearbox problems with his Fiesta. With the loss of 6^th gear, the Suzuki pairing took advantage and clawed the time back, going into the last stage with a 0.4 second advantage. In fading light second place would be decided over the final stage, the 18 mile run through Dalby. James and Rob pushed hard but remained cautious in the tricky conditions ensuring they made it to the end of the event and on reaching the end of the stage they had taken over a minute from Clark as he lost 3^rd and 4^th gears and struggled in the stage.

The result gives the Dealer Team Suzuki crew a three point lead in the Super 1600 class, with Wales Rally GB - a round of the FIA World Rally Championship, as the final round of the series take place over three days.   With that in mind, Wozencroft and Fagg have everything to play for on the Cardiff based rally.  James was more than happy to take second place on the event:

“The event has gone well, James has driven well and the car has been superb, a credit to the team” commented Rob, “Guy (Wilks) just set a pace we could not match with his WRC experience, but we are happy that we were ale to challenge the Stobart Fiesta’s on this event. We had a good fight with Roman (Kretsa) and Barry (Clark) which we came out on top of. It is all down to Rally GB and we will give it our all but Guy will be hard to beat. But there is a long way to go before it’s over.”

Rob is supported in 2006 by the Isle of Man Sports Aid Foundation, Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, www.Mexperience.com , Advanced Autosport Technologies, Dunlop Tyres, Robert Graham & Co Chartered Quantity Surveyors, NickyGrist.com and Manx Telecom.

Media
11/10/2006