Once again, the day was anything but straightforward for reigning FIA
African Rally Champion Conrad Rautenbach. Having overcome the illness which
had left him lethargic ahead of the start, the 23-year-old woke up feeling
fine and ready to take on the toughest round of the World Rally
Championship. Unfortunately, a damper problem slowed him in the morning,
while overheating issues with the Citroen C4 WRC cost him time early in the
afternoon.
The day had started well enough, with the first split times from the opening
Schimatari test showing Rautenbach and his British co-driver David Senior on
a similar pace to former world champion Petter Solberg and his all-new
Subaru Impreza WRC2008. A front-left damper problem hit them on SS2, making
the car’s handling unpredictable for the next two stages. The dampers were
changed in service, but it was an overheating problem in SS4 which cost more
time. Rautenbach is 15th overnight, one minute away from the top 10 – which
is his aim through the second day of the event.
The quick quote.
“A damper problem threw us off the road in sixth gear this morning.
That got my attention!”
Conrad’s full story.
“It’s been a tough day – the kind you expect on the Acropolis Rally.
In myself, I feel much better. I had a good nights sleep and was ready to
attack this morning. The first stage was a bit nadgery: tight and twisty. I
didn’t really enjoy it that much. After that, the roads opened up a bit, but
we hit something with the front-left of the car.
It’s a bit bizarre: I don’t remember hitting anything and thinking:
“Ouch! That’s going to break the car.” But, obviously, something was broken
on the front-left. We were going off the road over small bumps which we
didn’t even have in our notes. On the third stage, this damper problem threw
us off the road in sixth gear. That got my attention. That was a bit crazy
and pretty dangerous. We could easily have had an accident.
“With the damper thing fixed, I really wanted to push on this afternoon, but
halfway through SS4, the car dropped power, it had overheated and gone into
the safe mode. We drove the second half of the stage like that and lost a
lot of time. It was okay for the next two stages, but I stalled a couple of
times in stage five and then couldn’t get into the rhythm in the next one.
It’s frustrating. I want a clean run at a rally. Actually, nevermind a rally
– just a full day.
We did that in Sardinia on the Sunday and it was great, I felt the
confidence and the times coming to me. Okay, tomorrow is another day and
anything can still happen on this event. That last stage tonight
(Psatha) was really rough, but I reckon the roads are going to be even worse
tomorrow and Sunday. There’s plenty of action left on this event.”
Post published in: Zimbabwe Sports News