Stobart Motorsport driver Kris Hall maintains stong position in Fiesta Championship after Bulldog Rally

kris hall Malcolm Wilson rally Stobart Motorsport driver Kris Hall maintains stong position in Fiesta Championship after Bulldog Rally

MSA British Rally Championship

Bulldog Rally – Event Report

Hall maintains strong position in Fiesta Championship

Stobart Motorsport driver Kris Hall remains a strong contender to take the Fiesta SportTrophy UK title after following up his victory on Malcolm Wilson Rally in March with fourth place at the Bulldog Rally in Wales.

The rally was also the first round of the 2009 MSA British Rally Championship giving Hall and his other FST competitors the chance to pit themselves against other top drivers in the UK and take honours in the BRC class and overall categories.

The 19-year-old from Appleby in Cumbria had been working hard on his preparation in the run up to the rally, taking part in a two-day training event with the MSA British Rally Elite scheme in Edinburgh at the start of the week where he worked on physical fitness as well as mental preparation.

Despite tricky conditions caused by heavy overnight rain his hard work seemed to be paying off in the early stages of the rally as his pacenotes helped him maintain a high tempo on the fast sections leaving him second in the Fiesta SportTrophy section, just 0.2 seconds down, after the nine mile opening stage.

As in the first round of the FST three weeks ago, Hall was locked in a battle with Craig Breen and Matt Edwards but Hall dropped back further after suffering a puncture on SS4 which cost him around 90 seconds.

With only the opening four stages of the day counting towards the Fiesta SportTrophy, the delay cost Hall and co-driver Robbie Durant a podium place in the FST as they finished fourth behind Matt Edwards, Breen and Mark Donnelly. But the result still earned Hall valuable points and he now lies second in the FST series, just five points behind leader Edwards.

With two stages of the rally counting towards the British Rally Championship remaining Hall stayed in contact with Breen in the R3 class going into the final stage of the day just six seconds down. But after dropping time on the final stage of the day he finished third in the R3 class and 15^th overall.

Stobart Motorsport Driver Kris Hall said:

“It’s been a difficult but enjoyable weekend and as usual the competition at the front of the field was very tough with only seconds separating the top three on every stage. Our puncture dropped us down the order and meant we couldn’t challenge for overall victory but I’m still second in the championship and I have learnt quite a bit from this event. My pacenotes have got better and I’m thinking more about my planning and preparation for each rally.”

Photo: M-Sport

Source: stobartmotorsport.com