After an amazing show of support last night in Carmarthen for the opening ceremony of this years' RAC rally, the crews set off to begin SS1. Crychan set the tone for the day, though causing issues for some crews. Steve Perez ending stage 1 wth a poorly sounding Stratos. Though that was nothing compared to some crews. Chris Ingram got stuck in 4th gear dropping him time while others struggled to make it through at all.
Thankfully a remote service after stage 2 means they have a chance to rectify any problems before the rest of the days stages.
Roger Chilman experienced engine trouble in the opening stage whilst Matt Robinson had a diff issue on SS2 and did not continue. Back at service Chris Ingram managed to fix his gearbox issues, reporting at the end of SS3 that it was merely a linkage problem.
Into SS3 and Oliver Solberg had a great run, Jason Pritchard contined a good start to the day keeping in touch with the leaders and preserving the car somwhat.
Kris Meeke must have clicked with his Escort RS in stage 4 setting a blistering time of 3:49, equal to Solberg. A great time, until Seb Perez decided to wind up the Stratos to bring it to the end of SS4 with a time of 3:36. So a change to the top of the leaderboard. Meeke now took the lead, with Pryce slipping to 2nd and Solberg in 3rd, just 2 seconds down.
What was supposed to be the easier of the 5 days days proved to be a slippy, challenging day. In SS6 after going well all day, Meeke's Escort suffered a backfire that blew back up to the carbs, causing a small fire and ending his day. Damage was said to be minimal and Meeke should continue tomorrow, though the incident dropped him over 9 minutes and down to 20th place overnight.
Elsewhere Meeke's problems promoted those behind. Multiple historic champion, Jason Pritchard went well all day staying in touch with the leaders in 5th, choosing instead to save the car rather than put on an all out attack from the off. The champions experience, clearly showing through. Many in the top 20 made up places throughout the day with the final results after SS6 as:
Osian Pryce
Oliver Solberg +0.11
Martin McCormack +0.25
Paul Barrett +0.59
Jason Pritchard +1.09
Seb Perez +1.18
Ben Friend +1.31
Barry McKenna +1.33
Cathan McCourt +1.39
Adrian Hetherington +1.54
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