North Wales: FST event summary

TOP SIX FOR FORDE ON BULLDOG

Kick Energy Fiesta Sport Trophy UK Championship

Following his problematic run on the opening round of the Kick Energy Fiesta Sport Trophy UK Championship (FST), Galway driver Ross Forde was hoping for better luck on last weekend's Bulldog Rally.

With the necessary alterations made to his Motorsport Ireland and Irish Sports Council-backed Ford Fiesta, and with a change in co-driver, Forde was looking for a good run on the second round of the championship.

Despite this being the first time that Forde has rallied in the forests of North Wales, he and co-driver Gary McElhinney, were happy that their M-Sport-run car was working well throughout the opening stages, even though they were losing time to the leaders.

With this in mind, Forde pushed a little too hard on the following stages as he explained:

"We hit a rock on the third stage and thought we'd got a puncture, so we backed off a bit but we were fourth fastest, so we must have been doing something right! On stage four we had a bit of a moment, where we went up onto two wheels but we were fine and were again joint fourth fastest."

Having a far from trouble-free day, Forde then suffered from a broken driveshaft on the sixth stage and also was hampered by a lack of brakes, but they made it through the finish to complete the rally in sixth place in the FST and 22nd overall.

Forde, who holds sixth place in the standings, and who is hoping to contest the whole of the Fiesta championship, will next be in action in the Carlisle based Pirelli International Rally on April 17/18.

-credit: fiestasportingtrophy.co.uk