2008 FIA INTERNATIONAL CUP FOR CROSS COUNTRY BAJAS (ROUND 3/6) BAJA ESPANA ARAGON SATURDAY 19 JULY 2008 LEG 2
ROMA DEFENDS 2ND PLACE BUT TEAM REPSOL MITSUBISHI RALLIART LOSES ALPHAND AND MASUOKA
With a total of 344.75km of competitive action on the program, the longest leg of the weekend was always likely to have a decisive effect on the outcome of the Spanish event. Unfortunately, the day’s two principal victims turned out to be Luc Alphand/Gilles Picard (France) and their Mitsubishi team-mates Hiroshi Masuoka/Pascal Maimon (Japan/France) whose runs came to a halt during this afternoon’s SS4, the longest of the rally.
As they headed out for an early start to the second leg’s faster stages, competitors were greeted by further glorious sunshine and more hot weather (38°C), although the breezeless SS3 was marked by hanging dust which affected all but Al-Attiyah, the first driver on the road today.
Luc Alphand kicked off the day intent on recovering the footing on the podium that he lost just before the end of Friday’s final stage. The second-fastest time on this morning’s 133.12km stage enabled him to close to within less than a minute off a top-three placing, but the Frenchman was later stopped by a transmission problem on the following test. ”
The French pair was joined on the retirements list shortly afterwards when Hiroshi Masuoka and Pascal Maimon could only stand by and watch as their Pajero/Montero Evolution was consumed by flames. The Japanese driver takes up the story: “We had gone off and were doing what we could to manoeuvre our way back onto the road when another competitor went off at exactly the same place. The other car didn’t hit ours, but its hot brakes set fire to the surrounding grass. We did all we could to put out the flames with our onboard extinguisher, but they quickly spread to the two cars and there was absolutely nothing we could do to put out the blaze.” Happily, nobody was hurt in the incident.
Team Repsol Mitsubishi Ralliart Director Dominique Serieys observes, “We’ve lost two cars today in two completely different circumstances. Hiroshi went off at a place that nearly caught out a lot of other competitors, including Nani. The fact that his car caught fire was due to the unfortunate sequence of events that followed. However much experience you have, there is always something you can learn and this weekend has already taught us all a great deal. We weren’t helped of course by yesterday’s spate of punctures, but nothing is by any means over yet. There is still a long, challenging stage to come tomorrow and we mustn’t forget that we’ve still got Nani up there in second place”
Nani Roma comments, “It’s been another tough day for the team, and what happened to Hiroshi is especially sad. I have to say that I came close to going off at the same spot,”. “Both this morning and this afternoon, we did all we could to stay in contention and we managed to keep up a strong pace whenever the terrain was twisty. Today’s stages were much faster than yesterday’s, though, and there was nothing we could do to stay with Al-Attiyah through the quicker portions and along the long straights. That’s a situation we just have to live with for the moment in the knowledge that everyone at MMSP and in Japan is working hard to prepare for the future. I know it won’t be easy, but I have no intention of giving up because anything can still happen tomorrow.”
The 25th anniversary Baja Espana finishes on Sunday afternoon after the morning’s 126.74km SS6 (Logares-Belchite) and the second of the weekend’s two visits to the short 1.00km Principe Felipe/Colin McRae Memorial stage before the podium ceremony in Zaragoza.
