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Top 20 finish for Andrew Bushe on European Championship Rally Antibes |
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23-Oct-09 |
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Andrew Bushe & Richard Hyland - Rally Antibes Cote D'Azur |
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Lisburn driver Andrew Bushe, and co-driver Richard Hyland from Fintona recorded a 20th overall finish, in their Hegarty Metals Citroen C2 Super1600 on the weekend’s European Championship Rally Antibes, near Nice in the South of France. For the crew it was their first time rallying abroad, first real rally in their newly acquired Citroen, their first major rally of the 2009 season, and it provided Andrew’s first finish on an International rally for three years, after a string of nine frustrating mechanical retirements on his home International’s! The 29 year old from Stoneyford is a former Irish Tarmac 1600 Champion, but has been suffering mixed fortunes with machinery over the last three seasons. Thanks to an invite from Citroen Racing this time, Andrew joined 18 other top C2 drivers from all around Europe for this event, where the atmosphere was superb, the rally starting in the centre of Antibes town.
The Rally Antibes Cote D’Azur started on Friday evening with a short blip around the Antibes harbour, then the first stage was the legendary Col de Bleine, a Monte Carlo Rally classic, 33 kilometres of corner after corner!
“The first proper stage went well, although I didn’t feel that I drove hard. We had a lot to learn, as we hadn’t even tested the car before hand, and I have done very little driving at all this year. It was like nothing we had ever done before, with so many corners, so many blind corners also, but the car felt good, we made no mistakes, and finished the stage 16th overall, 8th fastest of the 25 1600 crews, first of the UK/ Irish crews by quite a margin. Things went fine on the second stage, although I felt I had made the pace-notes too slow, but on the third we had some brake fade, which may have been attributed to not bedding the pads properly. We lost some time, but we still held our position, and I was quite pleased as there was a lot more left in the car and my driving. As for the stages, they were just awesome! Rallying is very different in France than at home. The nature of the roads are just completely different, and the asphalt specialists are very fast.”
On stage 5 a re-run of the Col de Bleine test things were going very well for the crew but it was the start of recurring brake troubles for the team, culminating in a costly spin, and a loss of confidence in the brakes for the final two tests. Nevertheless they ended leg one in 17th place overall, and second of the UK/ Irish C2 runners.
“I was hoping for dry weather and the brakes to be perfect for day 2, but instead there was ice on the first two tests high up in the Alps. By the time we started the famous downhill Col de Turini test, the ice patches were bad, but the complete lack of a brake pedal, with the sheer drops was a worse problem! “Indeed on the next 22 kilometre stage things got worse as two rocks pulled out from a cliff face from a previous, on the racing line a blind left hander simply punctured the tyre instantly, and the crew had no option but to stop and change."
“It was a fate that befell several other drivers, and really the second day of the event wasn’t our day. The service crew did a brilliant job all weekend with the limited time available to look after the car, and the car ran perfectly, but we just need to cure this braking problem, then we can really show what we can do. I think in relation to where we started the day a place in or just outside the top 10 was on the cards, but it just didn’t work out this time. I would love to go back next time and try again, but for us to finish without major problems was an achievement in itself after times of late.”
Finishing was a big priority on the Rally Antibes, as Citroen Racing’s massive promotion, granted the Lisburn driver a free entry, and generous prize money and parts vouchers of over €5000 for finishing each leg.
“I would like to thank all the personnel at Citroen Racing for their hospitality at the weekend. Their efforts in promotion and making each driver feel welcome were exemplary, and I have never enjoyed a rally as much. We were on the event to learn and get more experience in the car, for next season, and the Citroen engineers were very helpful, with plenty of advice about the car. It is far from my best result, but really we are trying to sort things for an attack on the Irish Tarmac Championship next season, although now I wouldn’t rule out a few more trips abroad. Now I need to work on my fitness over the winter, try to find some sponsorship and also a bit more testing with the new car to be fully competitive again.”
Andrew would like to say thank you to his service team of Nigel Wilson, John McBride, his father Alan, team caterer Rebecca, and to Citroen Parts Direct, Ears Motorsport, Lester Engineering, Whitemountain Tyres, Sunoco Fuels and Matcon Shopfitting for their help before the event.
“I would definitely love to go back and do some more rallying in France. The rally was superbly organised, the organisers and people on the rally were very friendly, whilst the roads were fantastic, very challenging.” |
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