BLOMQVIST HOLDS ON TO ADVANTAGE
Former winner, Rob Collinge, closes gap in East African Safari Rally
After a day of close-fought competition, former World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist has held on to his early lead in the 2005 East African Safari Rally. However, the Swede has had a fierce battle with the winner of the 2003 event, Rob Collinge, who has closed the gap to just 31 seconds after 10 competitive sections. Third position is now held by Frederic Dor, the Frenchman moving ahead of John Lloyd during the second day of competition.
The second leg of the East African Safari Rally kept the field of competitors in Tanzania for another five competitive sections over 286.22 competitive kilometres. It was the longest leg of the event and saw the crews on the road for nearly 12 hours as they covered a total distance of 769.84 kilometres. Early this morning, the route took the crews north from Dar es Salaam, initially into the Pugu Hills, before heading to the infamous Usumbara Mountains, where there is an average of one corner per 75 metres in a legendary Safari stage. Crews then arrived for the overnight halt at the Ngurdoto Mountain Lodge, 20 kilometres before Arusha and in the foothills of the snow-topped Mount Kilimanjaro.
1984 World Rally Champion Stig Blomqvist, co-driven by Venezuelan Ana Goni, maintained a hot pace again today in the Historic Motorsport-prepared Ford Escort. He was however in the thick of a fierce battle and while he was second in all but one stage, the Swede has lost the majority of his initial advantage.
"Today's been another good day with no problems," said the Blomqvist, who last competed in the Safari Rally in 2001 in Group N machinery. "The car's running very well and I'm enjoying it a lot, especially as it's been cooler today."
Rob Collinge, driving a Datsun 260Z, maintains second position, but with four competitive section victories today, has closed the gap to Blomqvist to just 31 seconds. "We lost fourth gear just two kilometres into the first section this morning, so we've been a bit handicapped all day," he said. "But the stages have been twistier and slower today, so okay we've managed reasonably well. You can't stick your neck out too much when you've lost a gear though, but we've taken time out of Stig everywhere."
Frederic Dor has climbed from fourth to third overnight, the French businessman having some suspension problems in the Tuthill-prepared Porsche 911. "My only real problem today was drinking too much water before the start of CS9 and we had to slow down because I felt ill," said Frederic at the overnight halt. "Otherwise, things have been fine and the car's running well."
John Lloyd, a leading contender in the 2003 event, slipped to fourth during the second leg, seemingly just unable to get into a good rhythm. "It's been a terrible day, I was driving like an idiot this morning!" he said.
Belgian Gerard Marcy maintains fifth position overnight in the leading Ford Escort, despite suffering two punctures in the second section, while Australian Graham Alexander (Datsun 260Z) holds sixth.
Björn Waldegård, a veteran of the Safari Rally who has three wins under his belt, has climbed up the order from 11th to seventh, while former Toyota team-mate Juha Kankkunen - who last contested the Safari in 2002 - has rocketed from an overnight 34th to 19th. Ian Duncan, who won the Safari Rally when it was a round of the FIA World Rally Championship in 1994, has however suffered disappointment. The Kenyan Escort driver went off the road in the final section of the day and looks set to be forced into retirement.
Sunday's third leg takes in four competitive sections over 202.48 kilometres. The route takes the crews north for one final section in Tanzania, on the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, before crossing the border back into Kenya for the longest test of the event, the 105.12 kilometre run from Namanga to Kibini. After a further two sections, the crews arrive in Nairobi for the overnight halt in the capital city.
Leaderboard after Leg 2
1. Stig Blomqvist/Ana Goni Ford Escort RS1600 4hr 51min 22sec 2. Rob Collinge/Anton Levitan Datsun 260Z 4hr 51min 53sec3. Frederic Dor/Paul Howarth Porsche 911 5hr 01min 37sec4. John Lloyd/Paul Amandini Porsche 911 5hr 04min 35sec5. Gerard Marcy/Alain Lopes Ford Escort RS 5hr 12min 32sec6. Graham Alexander/David Stewart Datsun 260Z 5hr 15min 12sec7. Bjorn Waldegard/David Cavanagh Porsche 911 5hr 20min 16sec8. James Ingleby/Mike Bowen Rover 5hr 31min 31sec9. Jurgen Bertl/Jiri Kotek Porsche 911 5hr 33min 48sec10. Anthony Ward/Ievan Thomas Ford Escort 5hr 38min 39sec
DRIVER QUOTES - LEG 2
2. Ian Duncan/Amaar Slatch - EAK/EAK - Ford Escort RS"It's not been a very good day. We had a puncture in the first stage (CS6) and then trashed the car into a triple caution ditch in the last one (CS10). We rolled and I don't think it's repairable; it's not looking so good."
3. Juha Kankkunen/Juha Repo - FIN/FIN - Datsun 240Z"We had punctures in each of the first three sections. The stages have been very different today; a lost more twisty."
5. Bjorn Waldegard/David Cavanagh - S/RI - Porsche 911"CS9 was perfect, a real Safari stage. The car's been overheating a bit and after our problems yesterday I decided to take it easy. We lost the brakes totally in the final stage yesterday (CS5), which wasn't good in such a fast section. Today, we've not stopped for anything unnecessary; we've just slowed down to preserve the shocks, which are not the best for the Safari but we wanted to be 'as classic' as possible. I'm having great fun, enjoying it enormously. It's beautiful in the Usumbara Mountains; I could've stopped and just looked at the view for a long time. 1971 was my first Safari and this is my 19th event, but it's only the second time I've been in these mountains; lovely."
7. Gerard Marcy/Alain Lopes - B/B - Ford Escort RS"We had two punctures this morning and lost around seven minutes. Otherwise no problems and the scenery has been very beautiful."
8. Richard Martin-Hurst/Tony Devantier - GB/NZ - Ford Capri Perana"We've had a trouble-free day. The first part of CS8 was very rough and I think quite a few people got lost, but not us!"
9. Iain Freestone/Preston Ayres - GB/GB - Ford Escort RS1600"We got lost in CS8, which we thought was just a reverse of a section yesterday, and it wasn't entirely like that. We lost about 30 minutes."
12. Simon Glover/Russ Langthorne - GB/GB - Ford Escort"The stages have been good, but some of the notes a bit misleading. The car's been fantastic and so far it's been great."
19. James Ingleby/Mike Bowen - GB/GB - Rover "We've done alright today and moved ahead, so that's good. The car's running well and okay, it's been a bit rough but we didn't get lost in CS8, like a lot of people."
2015. Soren Kjaer/Mads Kjaer - DK/DK - Porsche 911"We had to be towed through the final bit of the road section into the overnight halt; I'm not sure exactly what the problem is at the moment. It's the first time I've done the Safari and it's great, but we have to see about our problems for tomorrow."
20. Marzio Kravos/Renzo Bernardi - EAK/EAK - Mercedes 450 SLC"It's been a really enjoyable day and the Usumbara Mountains I loved; every rally should have these types of stages. The car's been fine, just three punctures today."
21. Josef Pointinger/Peter Hall - A/GB - Ford Escort"It's not been so bad; Peter drove today and we're still here! The only problem we had was hitting a mud hole and losing the wipers so we had to stop. But otherwise the stages have been good, although some have been pretty rough."
22. Graham Alexander/David Stewart - AUS/AUS - Datsun 260Z"We had a bad start to the day when we broke down on the way out to the first section; some sort of engine problem."
24. Jurgen Bertl/Jiri Kotek - D/CZ - Porsche 911"Not so bad; a good day for us. The car's okay, touch wood! We've been caught in dust nearly every stage today though."
25. Paul Kane/Mary Ellen Kane - GB/GB - Ford 350 Mustang GT"We've had clutch problems since the start. It went on the first day, we replaced it and now it's gone again today. We had to miss the last two sections and will have to see what we can do. We have a spare rebuild kit, but obviously there's something fundamentally wrong with the parts. It's a real shame as the car's great, handling well and a great weapon on these stages."
28. Albert Michiels/Patrick de Coninck - B/B - Porsche 911The crew is reported to have had steering problems.
29. Marc Devis/Dan Erculisse - B/B - Porsche 911"I think we can say we've had an okay day; no big problems. Marc is a rookie driver but he learns quickly, the car's not damaged and we have a good service crew. We've moved from 18th to 14th, which is on target. I learned a lot on this rally last time and the goal is to reach the finish."
32. Timothy Mammen/Jaspal Matharu - GB/GB - Datsun 1600 SSS"Not too bad a day, although we put the car on its side on a slow right hand corner this morning! We've got a few small problems, and yesterday the starter motor shorted the whole car and we were nearly out before the start of the first section! We're having our fair share of fun though, even though we're having more problems with clutches and brakes than we did in the 2003 event."
33. Aslam Khan/Imran Khan - EAK/EAK - Datsun 180B"I've proved today that you can go without solids for 24 hours to recover from an upset stomach! We've had a peculiar misfire today and we need to find out how to cure it; something to do with the fuel anyway."
40. John Hill/Michael Tuckey - GB/AUS - Ford Escort"Today's been good; yesterday was dreadful! We've climbed a few places as others have had problems or gone off. The car's running like a dream."
47. Jonathan Savage/Quentin Savage - EAK/EAK - Datsun 260Z"It's been an excellent day, no problems. We're taking it easy and it's been very different today, especially in the Usumbara Mountains. We've exercised caution but it's been a good run."
