Photography by JCCB Rally Photography – Robs East Riding Stages Album
Rob Cotton made the perfect start to his British Rally Championship campaign with a brilliant performance on the East Riding Stages.
The reigning John Easson Award winner topped his class and finished a superb 17th overall on the one-day, closed-road event in East Yorkshire.
Champagne photo courtesy of Facebook
Despite driving his Subaru Impreza B13 for the first time in anger, Rob was on the pace from the very start, clocking 23rd fastest time on SS1 in a field full of R5, R3 and R2 cars.
“It was just the result I was hoping for, I thought we might just squeeze into the top 20 if we were lucky but 17th feels a real achievement,” explained Rob.
“The new car is an absolute rocketship compared to my old one, but I felt comfortable with it very quickly.
“The key goal was to keep the driving very clean, no spins, lock-ups or stalls because that’s where the time just evaporates.
“It has relatively old suspension technology compared with more modern R5 cars, which meant we were losing time in slower sections.
“But it is geared for 130mph plus, whereas R5’s are geared for 115mph maximum, so we could claw it back on the flat-out sections, and there were a lot of those!
“Of course, that bring its own issues as the car is slightly twitchy at 130mph and we had a couple of moments in the day.
“We were flat-out in sixth on one section and my line wasn’t quite right and it suddenly stepped out with half a lock of steering on. My first thought was ‘Oh, no, this could be a hospital visit’ but luckily it straightened out before getting any more serious.
“The car felt very competitive all day, in the dry morning loop we were taking ten seconds a stage off our rivals, and rain in the afternoon loop saw us extend that to 20 seconds, which is really encouraging.
Rob and co-driver Owen Paterson also survived a scare on the final stage when the turbo began to seriously overheat.
He said: “It was registering 110deg and I knew the bearings could fail at any moment . We managed to get to the end of the stage, but then had a 30-minute drive to the ceremonial finish, and if we didn’t make that, we’d be out. It was the most excruciating half hour of my life,”
Although the next round of the BRC, the Carlisle Stages, is seven weeks away, Rob faces a busy time getting the car re-prepared.
He said: “We have added a turbo and engine rebuild to the long list of work that needs doing before April, but we’ll be there. There’s plenty more to come from the car and from me, I’m really looking forward to it.”
*Congratulations also to JEA runner-up Meghan O’Kane, who had a brilliant debut to win the BRC4 class in their Ford Fiesta R2. Meghan and co-driver Nikki Addison finished a huge four minutes ahead of rivals Michael Jenkins and Jordan Joines.
Rob Cotton would like to thank
Crew, sponsors and people that have made this happen Steve, Derek, Martin1, Martin2, Zach & Seth.
Crew, sponsors and people that have made this happen Steve, Derek, Martin1, Martin2, Zach & Seth.
2300Club John Easson Award
Cotton Competition
North Coat Ltd
Questmead Ltd
Motordrive seats
PD Extinguishers
Proflex UK
Cotton Competition
North Coat Ltd
Questmead Ltd
Motordrive seats
PD Extinguishers
Proflex UK
Rob also would like to thank the Marshals who make this sport happen, even when it rains.
