The two Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy co-drivers participating in the FIA Rally Star initiative had two very opposing experiences on their opening rally last week.
Ronan Comerford from County Armagh was co-driving for Abdullah Al Tawqi (Oman) and Mayo’s Lorcan Moore has been selected to call pacenotes for Max Smart (South Africa).
They are two of six crews from across the world, all aged between 17 and 26, who will begin their first steps on the World Rally Championship pyramid at last weekend’s Rally di San Marino.
Moore had a very successful debut guiding his driver – a former motorcycle racing champion in his home country – to third in the category despite rolling their Ford Fiesta Rally3 in shakedown.
“We have lots to learn but it was a good start,” said Moore.
Three of the six crews failed to finish.
“We had a job to do which was get around and we did it,” he added.
Unfortunately, Comerford and his driver were one of the three crews who failed to make the finish.
“We showed a very positive ground base. A small mistake close to the finish of stage four meant we went off-line and slid off the road,” said Comerford.
“Not where we planned to end this rally which has been a big challenge for only 75km but with minimal damage to the car we can take our positives and bounce back on the next round in Austria.”
Text by: Sean Moriarty
Yorumlar