Here is the report from the Sweed that was hoping for good time but ended up doing a few misstakes and two extremely big one.......
SS1 - Rally Poland:
I knew going into this stage that I was consistent, I have been doing almost the exact same stage time during practice and had good notes for it.
I asked Johan to read the notes as quickly as he dared so that I could go as quickly as I could and to be sure to put extra notation to let me hear the Caution noteations I had at 2 places on the stage.
He did a brilliant job while I made a couple of small misstakes but still a stage win, I'll grab that with open arms and again, on a night/dusk stage, I think I like them more and more
SS2 - Rally School:
Made a few small misstakes and was overly cautious on the Fords (water streams) so didn't get a very good time in but apparently allright.
SERVICE
SS3 - Shepherds Shield:
One of the best stages of the rally and what a flop (went a lot worse than it should) of a run it was for me.
Even with Johan on full attack with the notes and me driving as quickly as I could I made a few small misstakes that I am not proud of. After the stage I remember thinking "I'm not happy with that, not good, not good at all" and I was right timing whise compared to everyone else.....
SS4 - Falstone:
I think we did allright, a couple small misstakes but still kept the speed up so Magnar must have been absolutely on fire on this stage, an amazing time!
This stage I will make a vid of as it shows my driving style to the fullest. I was on the edge of cutting all through the stage almost going to wide and rolling it twice (I know this because I rolled it where I went wide before) and Johan said something like "That was one hell of a stage, well done. Just take it a bit easier so we know we finish, allright?". Looking at the stages to come I should have listened....
SS5 - East-West:
I had a very good recce on this stage before the event but I had been writing the notes a bit wrongly so I was going slower than I should have due to not trusting the notes after almost hitting a tree early and then hitting a bank almost rolling the car.
A very safe run through and not a good time but I'll take it, didn't loose too much time...
SERVICE
SS6 - The W:
Looks like my setup wasn't optimal. I was spinning my wheels a bit too much not being able to get the power to the gravel up the hills at the beginning of the stage but a fairly good time non the less but still work to do to the car to make it go up the hills better...
SS7 - Chirdonhead:
Too many crashes in practice for the event made me far to cautious on many parts of the stage so not a good one. Was hopeful but couldn't go at the pace I wanted due to being scared of rolling it....
SS8 - Harwood Forest II:
Going into the stage I know that I was not going to get a good time in but non the less told Johan to read the notes to me as quickly as possible.
It ended about 400 meters into the stage when I didnt hear a 3 right and went flying off in 4th gear hard on the brakes just about avoiding a colossal stone...
Kept powering on and this ended in a roll I we had as well and the windshield cracked so was pretty much driving blind for 75% of the stage so the time was, considering this, allright....
SERVICE
SS9 - Sipirkakim:
Not happy with my driving.
One understeer off loosing around 10 seconds and then a couple of offs into the scenery that didn't loose us more than a couple of seconds....
SS10 - Canyon:
The worst stage of the rally. Never good at this stage so was on a conservative run only wanting to make sure to finish the stage.
SERVICE
SS11 - Mineshaft II:
This stage I was hopefull for as it is a good stage for me...
Was pushing a bit too hard and then coming powering through in 4th gear in the Alfa and around 110 KPH the rear end got loose over a slight crest and I just about clipped a banking and rolled it into a tree and the stage was over.
I was less than 30 seconds from the finish of the stage so not happy with that misstake but as I was going for the win on the stage I knew that I would either crash or win the stage, it ended in a crash in a spectacular style.
Johan did a great job here so all good, just me making that slight misstake there.
SS12 - Autiovaara:
Oh dear.....
Another one of those many small misstakes slowing us down, this was also only me making the misstakes trying a bit too hard not using the flow of the stage to an advantage but instead as a dissadvantage.
SS13 - Rally Poland R:
Hmmmm...... Why didn't I see the R during all the practice I did looking at the stages....
Was listening to the notes Johan was reading to me and had 2 spins before Johan said "You've got the wrong notes for me. You have to drive blind and on feel".
So I was simply driving blind after those 2 spins and managed to crawl home in a very bad time.... That was a misstake that I shouldn't have done
SERVICE
SS14 - Humualamaki:
Another full power run trying to get a good time in but got sideways over one of the many crests where the car goes light and a well placed stone hurt the car. The publicum helped us back on the road as we got stuck on top of the stone and a bad time was what we got...
Not a good run in our home rally but it was still fun on the stages that went with almost no misstakes
Cheers and see you all next time.
