Latest News » Strong start to 2011 for Fagg
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Thursday, April 28, 2011
By Juan Cregeen
 http://www.jcimages.co.uk
 
It’s been a busy but successful start to 2011 for Manx Rally Co-Driver Rob Fagg with an overall top three and class podium results already achieved.

The 31 year old from Kirk Michael in the Isle of Man started his season at the beginning in February by travelling to South Wales to contest the Red Kite Stages with a new driver in the form of 17 year old Welshman Nick Cristafaro. The event would serve as a test for the new pairing in preparation for Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship incorporating the Fiesta SportTrophy which would be the pair’s main focus this season.

From an entry of 42, Cristofaro and Fagg would finish in an excellent 10th Overall and take second in class, beaten to the top spot of the much more powerful Ford Escort MkI of Dylan Davies. More positively was the comparison to the other Ford Fiesta crews contesting the event with the next best being 67 seconds back.

Following the event it was agreed that Nick and Rob would team up for the season with both sides of the car comfortable with the other and confident of a successful season.

The following weekend Robert Graham & Co Quantity Surveyors supported Fagg would be back on the stages but this time with John Stone from Blackburn in his Skoda Fabia WRC.

Stone had decided to travel to the island and contest the Chris Kelly Memorial Stages as a warm up to his REIS MSA Asphalt Rally Championship campaign and had enlisted Rob to navigate for him on this occasion.

Although hopes were high pre-event that they could battle for the top spot, these were dealt a serious blow on the opening leg on Friday evening when crews were greeted by think fog on sections of the stages. Stage 3 would see a big moment for Stone and Fagg in the immaculately CA1 Sport prepared Fabia, making contact with banks on either side of the road due to visibility being down to around 2 metres.

They would survive the leg though and following its six stages found themselves in eighth position and with better weather forecast for the Saturday they were confident of climbing the leaderboard.

Although initially cautious over the opening loops, they would eventually get into a rhythm and post numerous top three times over the final nine stages of the event and snatch the final step on the podium. A good result as Rob begins his defence of the Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship title he won in 2010 and one he thoroughly enjoyed.

“It has been great to work with John (Stone) and the CA1 Sport team this weekend and despite the slow start we have got on a decent pace by the end of the event” commented Rob, “The Skoda is a fantastic car and handled the bumps on the stages without a problem, I hope to be able to get out again with John if an opportunity arises in the future.”

Last weekend and Rob was back alongside Cristafaro for the Bournemouth based Rallye Sunseeker, the opening round of not only the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship incorporating the important Fiesta SportTrophy.

Despite a cautious start and being one of the most inexperienced drivers in the field and definitely the youngest, Cristofaro was producing a controlled drive which resulted in him and Fagg occupying fourth spot in the two wheel drive (Formula 2) category and topping the Fiesta leaderboard. These positions would remain unchanged until the ninth stage of the event when the recovering much more experienced former multiple Fiesta Champion Craig Breen pushed them down a spot in both categories. But the performance over the final two stages was strong enough to achieve an excellent start to the season taking fifth in the Formula 2 and runners up spot in the Fiesta SportTrophy, results that had they been offered at the start of the event would have gladly been taken.

“The result table is a great starting point for our season and gives us good confidence, I am sure things will get tougher as the season progresses so it is good to get good points on the board so early” explained Rob at the finish at Bournemouth Pier, “Nick has driven well today above what would normally be expected by someone of his experience and hopefully we can bridge the gap to Craig (Breen) next time we meet on the Bulldog Rally at the end of the month.”

Rob’s season continues this weekend as he once again teams up with Cristafaro to contest the Malcolm Wilson Rally based in Cockermouth, Cumbria. The pair will once again be using their TEG Sport prepared Genpower / ekmsystems / Auto Glym / Millers Oils backed Ford Fiesta ST.

Although there is no championship at stake, the event is the opening round of the Fiesta SportChallenge and with 13 Fiesta’s entered it will provide a good competitive outing in preparation for the Bulldog Rally of North Wales later this month.

The crew’s progress on the event can be followed at www.btrdarally.com through the Live Results link on the home page.