Revolution Wheels Ulster Rally summary

Strong run for Swann on Ulster The two Revolution Wheels backed competitors on last weekends Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally could not have had more different events. Whilst David Meredith, on board a Mitsubishi Evo 9, struggled with a lack ...

Strong run for Swann on Ulster

The two Revolution Wheels backed competitors on last weekends Philip White Tyres Ulster Rally could not have had more different events. Whilst David Meredith, on board a Mitsubishi Evo 9, struggled with a lack of confidence in his notes and a poorly co-driver, Subaru pilot Rob Swann did not put a foot wrong en route to a fine fifth in the BRC standings!

Rob, who hails from Bishop Stortford, and is co-driven by Pwllheli resident Darren Garrod, only had one 'major moment' and that was on the corner where local rallying ace Phillip Morrow crashed out the year before. Fortunately Rob got away unscathed and returned to the finish in Armagh in a fantastic fifth overall in the BRC. This great result moves him up to third overall in the British Rally Championship standings with two rounds to go!

Darren and I had a good rally this weekend. The car performed brilliantly, full credit to Geoff Jones Motorsport, and despite the tricky conditions we were able to push pretty hard. We had one moment and ended up clipping a rock, but thanks to the strength of the Revolution rims we did not pick up a puncture, a sure testimony to their high quality!

Welshman David Meredith, on the other hand, experienced a trying first visit to the rally. With co-driver Jemma Bellingham not feeling well David was driving blind a lot of the time, and this, coupled with a spin early on the first stage, had dented his confidence slightly. Just as the pair were beginning to pick up the pace they suffered a driveshaft failure, eventually finishing 13th in the BRC standings.

This rally was really tricky. The conditions were extremely changeable and I was struggling to commit to the notes. Also poor Jemma was feeling pretty unwell for the first half of the rally. The driveshaft failure just summed up the whole event really!

Both crews now have 5 weeks to convert their cars back to gravel trim as the season moves to the penultimate round, the International Rally of Yorkshire.