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Silverstone -20th May2001
Two
Walkers Integrale Deltas
Entertain the crowd!
Two Walkers
Integrale line up to compete in the opening
round of the 2001 RallySprint series.
Official Organiser's
Report:
Smith proves the
RallySprint crowd's favourite.
Northallerton's Steve
Smith proved the crowd's favourite driver on
Sunday when he contested the opening round
of the Loctite National RallySprint
Championship in his fantastic ex-Carlos
Sainz Lancia Delta HF Integrale Evolution.
The sight of the famous
Walkers Garage / Tecno2 prepared Lancia
flying over the jumps and blasting through
the watersplash had the large crowd of
spectators on their feet - including former
works Lancia driver Markku Alen. The 50-year
old Finn, who scored most of his 20 World
Championship rally victories with Lancia,
took a keen interest in Steve's car.
"For sure it is
fantastic," said Alen. "I know this Lancia
very well - it is like an old friend. It's
not the most modern car now, but it is still
fantastic to see it being driven flat-out.
Like me, the Lancia Delta is a little bit
old, but it's not ready to retire just yet!"
Smith - known in the
RallySprint arena as 'Hannibal' - set
competitive times in the heats. The
experienced 48-year old pilot only failed to
qualify for the finals by a mere 0.26
seconds!
"The day went really
well," said Smith. "The car's handling was
mint, but at the end of the day the age of
the car - and the driver - got the better of
us! To be so close to qualify for the finals
against such tough competition is really
good. I've been doing these RallySprint
events for the past three years and we
really have done as well as we'd expected on
the opening round."
Smith's team-mate, Rodney
'Buffalo' Bennett, was also doing well, but
a misfire in his Lancia Delta Integrale on
the second qualifying run ended his chances
of reaching the finals.
Markku 'Maximus' Alen
eventually won the opening round of the
Loctite National RallySprint Championship,
driving a Subaru Impreza 555. He equalled
the lap record in the quarter-finals, before
beating the Ford Racing Puma 4x4 driven by
Martin 'Viper' Rowe (Banbury) in the
semi-finals by just 0.04 seconds!
In a closely fought grand
final - run over an extended three laps of
the 1.19 mile Roger Clark Circuit - Alen
beat the previous outright lap record
holder, Roger 'Jedi' Duckworth (Towcester).
"I have had to drive more than maximum flat
out all day today," admitted Alen. "I came
here to try and win and although I did it
was very hard. I was not driving the very
latest car, but the McKinstry team did a
very good job. I had to work hard all day
today and it was not easy. The final was
quite long - on the twisty figure of eight
course we crossed the start/finish line six
times I think. I just drove flat out until I
saw the chequered flag - I didn't have time
to count the laps!"
Rowe finished third, and
there was no need for a third-place run off
as Kenny 'Magic' McKinstry blew the engine
in his 1999 National Rally Championship
winning Subaru Impreza in his semi-final
battle with Duckworth.
A good day
out for all! |
