12/12/2013
SX4 Wrc Sets Pace - Rallye Suzuki In Martinique
The Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC team travelled to the island of Martinique to take part in the final event of their 2013 rally season. Rallye Suzuki took place between Friday 6th and Sunday 8th of December and was to be contested over 13 special stages in the East and North of the island.
This was the team’s first trip to the French island and having completed his initial recce of the route Armstrong described the stages scheduled for Friday night as being so tight and twisty that to drive them in a WRC car was going to be “like having a sword fight in a dog house”. He went on: “Some of the roads are so narrow I am not sure the car will even fit on them!” He rated Saturday’s stages however as “ some of the best I have ever seen” and both he and Ward were looking forward to the challenge.
The Team’s Simon Willis weighed in saying: “The stages are very varied, some sections are fast and flowing, some extremely tight and technical, so we will use the switchable engine modes on the Suzuki SX4 WRC to give different engine power delivery through throttle, boost and ignition mapping.”
With intermittent rain and pitch black conditions the team approached the first stage with some degree of caution but Neil still set the second quickest time of 6 minutes 15 seconds through stage 1 and then blitzed stage 2 with a time of 3 minutes 30 seconds to lead the rally by two seconds ahead of local Photo by Yann Nou Championship leader Jean-Philippe Mongaillard in his Citroen. The two remaining stages scheduled for Friday night were cancelled due to protracted delays and the teams returned to parc fermé in Fort de France.
Saturday dawned a bit brighter, but the stages scheduled to take place in the mountainous North of the island meant the weather was once again likely to be a unknown factor. Stage 5 was cancelled after the restart which meant the competition would not start in earnest until after 6PM. Plagued by windscreen fogging issues on stage 6, Armstrong relinquished the lead to Mongaillard. On stage 7 he recorded a time that was some 23 seconds faster than his first pass through the stage (stage 6) to move back ahead of Mongaillard by a slim 3 second margin. Stage 8 was cancelled before the rally had begun due to road conditions so it was on to stage 9 over which the SX4 WRC set a cracking time 11 seconds faster than the Citroen driver.
Unfortunately it all went wrong on stage 10. Armstrong came over a fast crest into a downhill left hander, grazed some muddy grass on the edge of the road which unsettled the SX4 just enough to clip a low wall which broke the front left hand suspension. Unfortunately the damage to the car rendered it immobile and the team were unable to continue.
Jean-Philippe Mongaillard went on to win the rally and at the prize giving on Monday night presented the trophies he had received to Armstrong and Ward in recognition of the efforts of the Simpson Motors Suzuki SX4 WRC team and their performance on the rally. In thanking the event organisers and his fellow competitors Armstrong received loud cheers when he stated that the team would be back in 2014.
The Team wish to thank Olivier Martorana, Philippe Helene and everyone at CCIE, the rally organisers, Hubert Gallet de St. Aurin and the fantastic rally fans who have all been very welcoming and extremely helpful.
Neil had this to say: “Rallying at night is very challenging for me, it was a serious experience but I would definitely like to return. I think it has been the most challenging rally I have ever done. The whole event pushed me to the limit but the entire team had a fantastic time. Olivier Martorana and everyone at CCIE went above and beyond the call of duty for us and the team. Their support and certainly that of the organisers, fellow competitors and the spectators has been second to none.”
The Team thanks our sponsors - Monster, Sol, Chefette, Digicel, Virgin Atlantic, Gunk, Hankook Tyres, Redline Fuels, Simpson Finance and Simpson Motors.
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