Conrad Rautenbach had an eventful Galway International Rally 2009 at the weekend, but found the experience very useful for the upcoming Rally Ireland which takes place at the end of January.
Rautenbach used the new Pirelli snow tyre during the event and commented that they worked really well. He was using a PH Sport Citroen Xsara in Galway but will revert back to the C4 for Rally Ireland when he will be running in the Citroen Junior Team.
Rautenbach described his Galway Rally experience to wrc.com:
What a great event. Okay, it's not the result we came looking for, but this event was always going to be about testing for me - and that's what I've done. From that perspective, it's been massively useful. It's made me look forward to Rally Ireland even more!
On Saturday morning is was okay, but then it rained quite hard in the afternoon. On Sunday morning there was a bit of ice around and then some more rain. I guess this is pretty much what we're going to get on Rally Ireland, so it was perfect for us. On the first day, we used the normal tyre, but then this morning (Sunday) we ran the winter tyre, which is the snow tyre without the studs. That worked really well. I was pleased with the way they went.
Rautenbach retired from the rally on Sunday after locking up under braking and going straight on at right hand junction.
Conrad explained:
We damaged the front-left corner and couldn't carry on. It was pretty frustrating, but I came here and achieved a lot of what I wanted to achieve.
Image: wrc.com
Source wrc.com
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Tags: c4 wrc, citroen junior team, conrad rautenbach, galway rally 2009, ph sport, Rally Ireland, wrc 2009, xsara wrc
