Rallying - Deflating Pirelli for Hall (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rallying - Deflating Pirelli for Hall

12:38pm Monday 20th April 2009 in

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STOBART Motorsport driver Kris Hall did not get the result he was hoping for after sliding off the road on Stage 4 of thethe second round of the MSA British Rally Championship.

The 19-year-old from Appleby in Cumbria was targeting a win in the Kick Energy Fiesta Sport Trophy section of the rally, but didn’t get off to a good start when he punctured his front left tyre on the second corner of the rally after clipping a rock on the inside of the bend.

The first two stages of the event were held on Friday evening in Kershope forest and he ended up losing over two minutes to the fastest Fiesta on the first test when the puncture dramatically slowed down his progress.

The tyre was changed after the 8.5 mile stage but it interrupted Hall’s flow through the very technical second test of the night and he lost a further 20 seconds through stage 2 – The Valley.

Competitors were greeted with glorious sunshine on Saturday morning as battle resumed on the fast, but demanding, stages in the Kielder forest complex and Hall’s aim was to start afresh and punch in some solid times.

This plan worked on Stage 3 when he secured a second fastest time but Hall succumbed to the challenging road conditions on a fast section of Stage 4 when the gravel ruts that had formed, forced him off the road on a very fast left hand corner.

He collided with some rocks which damaged the front suspension and his Fiesta ST become stuck fast in a ditch.

Despite Hall, and co-driver Barry McNulty’s best efforts, their rally car was going nowhere and it was a disappointing and premature end to the event.

In spite of this retirement, however, Hall still sits fifth in the Fiesta Sport Trophy just 15 points adrift of the top spot thanks to his win on round one of the series at the Malcolm Wilson Rally.

Stobart Motorsport driver Kris Hall said: “It hasn’t been the best of rallies for us and the puncture right at the start of the rally really knocked us off track.

"We tried to make amends today but those stages in Kielder are really difficult and unfortunately we went off the road on a fast section of the stage.

"The stages require big commitment and good pacenotes and it’s very easy for things to go wrong. When you go into one of those ditches, there’s very little chance of getting back on the road."