06/05/2013
Armstrong impressive on Valvoline Rally
Predictions of mixed conditions for the Barbados Rally Club’s Valvoline Rally proved accurate as forty crews faced overcast skies from the start at Automotive Art’s in Welches in the centre of the island. Competitors first tackled the familiar Hangman Hill to Mt. Misery stage with Roger Skeete in his Subaru Impreza WRC S12 setting fastest time with a 2.41.25 and Armstrong a close second just 2 seconds adrift.
Armstrong tuned the tables on stage 2 in Dark Hole with a scintillating 2.32.88 beating Skeete by 2 seconds to draw level. On stage 3 Skeete hit back going a second and a half quicker than Neil, but Armstrong responded on stage 4 setting the fastest time of the day through Dark Hole with a 2.29.17.
Fans and spectators were to be robbed of this epic battle for the lead of the rally when the Suzuki SX4 WRC developed a misfire in the early part of stage 5 and Armstrong and his navigator Barry Ward wisely chose to drive off the stage at its mid point rather than cause potential damage to the engine.
After the Team engineers had checked the engine at the ensuing lunch halt it was determined it was OK to continue and Armstrong went on to set competitive times after lunch. Unfortunately not finishing stage 5 had put paid to the team being classified as an overall finisher.
Neil had this to say: “Things went really well in the morning. I believe we showed good potential. After we had the problem on stage 5 we decided to save the car in the afternoon as the pressure was off. We had some fun. However, come Sol Rally Barbados, we will be going for absolute broke. We will NOT be driving for second.”
The Team thanks our sponsors - Monster, Sol, Chefette, Digicel, Virgin Atlantic, Gunk, Hankook Tyres, Redline Fuels, Simpson Finance and Simpson Motors. The next event for the Suzuki SX4 WRC team is the Barbados Rally Club’s Scotiabank King of the Hill on May 26th 2013.
