Second in class, second FWD and 27th overall should have been a cause for celebration for Ifan Devine and Luke Constantine.
But last weekend’s Manx Rally was overshadowed by the death of driver Darrell Taylor, who suffered a medical episode on the first stage.
“It was absolutely shocking when we heard the news,” explained Ifan, the 2300 Club’s reigning John Easson Award winner.
“I knew Darrell well, he was a hell of a nice guy and asked me last year if I would navigate for him on the Chris Kelly Stages. Sadly, I was unable to.
“The whole service area was numb with shock. My first reaction was to pack up and go home, but the consensus from everyone was that Darrell would have wanted the rally to continue. But the results seem irrelevant after what’s happened.”
The two day event gave Luke and Ifan more mileage to improve the set up of their Opel Corsa Rally4 in tarmac trim.
Although the pair finished 34 seconds behind class winner Ross Hunter and Chris Dodds in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, their stage times illustrated the progress they are making with the new car.
“Ross was taking up to 15 seconds out of us on the opening stages, but as we changed the set-up during the day the gap began to close, and by the end we were taking 20 seconds out of him,” explained Ifan.
Luke and Ifan are back on the trail of the British Rally Championship with the Borders-based Jim Clark Rally in two weeks time, May 22-24.
