Tour of Epynt 2009

Simon Mauger and Brian Cammack got their Richard Egger MSA Asphalt Championship off to a great start by finishing 5th overall and 3rd registered crew on the ranges of Epynt.

Despite a wet start for the first loop of stages Simon and Brian set a cracking pace to post 4th overall time in their 2.4lt Mk11 Escort, beaten only by state of art WRC cars.

Drying conditions should have worked in Simon and Brian’s favour but the long straights meant that they were struggling with lack of top speed, “we could have done with at least another 10mph but we were on the rev limiter for at least 5 seconds on one section at 118mph but there was nothing I could do about it today” said Simon.

This meant the crew slipped back to 6th and into a big battle with fellow MSA competitors David Mann/Alun Cook (Impreza WRC) and Steve Simpson/Patric Walsh (Hyundai WRC). Simon pushed hard on the next loop of stages to re-take Simpson but Mann was on a charge and only a hand full of seconds behind so he had to drive on the limit to stay ahead of Mann on the final stage.

“It was a good battle with Steve and David who are both good drivers so I was really pleased to stay ahead of them but we were too far behind the pace of David Kynaston/Andy Russell (Audi 4x4) to have any chance of finishing higher and Melvin Evans (Impreza WRC) who won the rally overall was in a different league, but 3rd overall and 1st two wheel drive is a good start” said Simon.