Kyle White Rallying- Second Place in Scottish Sortie for Kyle & Sean
SCOTTISH SORTIE KEEPS WHITE IN TOUCH!
Kyle Takes Second in Junior British Rally Championship Round Two- The Jim Clark Rally
After two rounds of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship (BRC), County Antrim’s Kyle White in his second year in the prestigious series, holds a fine second place in the Junior category. 26-year-old Kyle and County Down co-driver Sean Topping, using their new for 2022, Peugeot 208 Rally 4 secured a superb second place Junior BRC finish on their first attempt at the closed road tarmac of the Jim Clark Rally, based around the town of Duns. The rally named after the racing legend of the 1960’s who hailed from the area, is a classic in its own right and with two tough stages on the Friday evening and the remainder of the miles on Saturday, it provided a stern test for all the crews and indeed the highly competitive Rally 4 front wheel drive chargers.
“In many ways we are pleased with second place, and valuable championship points, but it wasn’t really our best rally” said Kyle as he reflected on the rally. The Friday evening started with the famous Abbey St Bathans test, renamed “Longformacus” and run twice. The second time through had the added challenge of darkness, and at 11.9 miles each these were by a stretch the longest stages of the event, meaning the pressure was on from the drop of the flag. “The first stage was not brilliant for us as we caught two cars, and we were stuck behind a MK2 Escort for quite a few miles. Our chief opposition Eamonn Kelly had the same trouble, so we were just lucky to be two seconds up, especially as I did not feel comfortable with the cars set-up. On the second run in the dark, I made an error. It was a section through a farm, a section I had been stuck behind the MK2 on the first run, and we slid up a small bank. Fortunately, we were able to reverse off it, but we dropped a significant nineteen seconds to Eamonn, and I was not best pleased overnight!”
Day two started with the short Westruther stage, and on this one Kyle was to drop a further ten seconds to Eamonn Kelly and was now really questioning the 208’s set-up. “We fitted harder springs all round than the ones we used on the opening round in Clacton. We did not get to test the car before the rally, but we certainly felt it was the right way to go. However, the car was surprisingly nervous, very darty, and I was not all together as confident as I should have been. “That said Kyle and Sean scored a fastest Junior BRC on stage five- Eccles, just before the mid-day service. It was all hands-on deck at that service as Kyle’s dad Gary, Alan Purdy and Kyle set to work to change back all four suspension struts in the forty minutes allowed, putting car back to its Clacton ratings with seconds to spare!
“The car felt a lot easier to drive after this change and we were able to manage the gap better to the end, finishing thirty seconds behind Eamonn. It was an extremely fast pace all weekend and fair play to Eamonn he was going very well and was confident as he played his joker card for extra points.” Now it is onto the Welsh gravel for the Nicky Grist Stages on 9th July, a rally that Kyle and Sean excelled on last season in the old R2 208. “We think our new car will be even stronger on gravel, and plan to test before the Nicky Grist. We really enjoyed the Welsh forests last year, claiming second and there is a very long way to go yet as far as the championship is concerned.” A further tarmac outing is planned for the Down Rally on 23rd July, as the team gain more valuable stage mileage with the new mount.
Once again, the team are grateful for the current assistance from Gary White Car Sales, L.A Distribution, Finaghy Cleaning Services, Jetvent Limited, Michelin, Race and Rally and Peugeot Sport.
Let us not forget the significance of winning the Motorsport UK Junior BRC in 2022, as the prize of a fully funded drive in a four-wheel drive Rally 2 Hyundai I20N in a World Championship (WRC) event is a big one!
Motorsport UK Junior British Rally Championship Calendar 2022
Round Dates Event Rally HQ Surface
1 23/24 April Rally Tendring & Clacton Clacton Tarmac
2 27/28 May Jim Clark Rally Duns Tarmac
3 9 July Nicky Grist Stages Builth Wells Gravel
4 13 August Grampian Forest Stages Banchory Gravel
5 3/4 September Rali Bae Ceredigion Aberystwyth Tarmac
6 23/24 September Trackrod Rally Yorkshire Filey Gravel
7 29 October Cambrian Rally Llandudno Gravel
Reserve 5 November Oulton Park Stages Oulton Park Tarmac
