Dave
It looks like bust. Gwyndafs stopped and his car is abandoned.
See
http://www.acm.mc/rallye/acm-rallye.php
Stage ONE
After blasting through the opening stage of the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally sixth quickest in the tightly-fought JWRC category, the crew of the MG ZR rally car, Gwyndaf Evans and Chris Patterson, had nothing but praise for the first competitive test of their new mount.
“It was a very difficult opening stage,” said Gwyndaf, “with about 8km of slippery ice, and quite a debut for the MG ZR to say the least!
“I was pleasantly surprised with the way the car was handling on the stage, and though we had a minor problem mid-stage, it didn't seem to hinder us. We were really pleased with how the MG ZR was going towards the end of the stage, and to be sixth quickest in the JWRC virtually straight out of the box with such a new car is great.
“This just shows what massive potential the MG ZR has.”
Co-driver Chris Patterson agreed, praising the GSE Motorsport team who have developed the MG ZR rally car: “The car went well and we were pleased with the time. It shows how hard the whole team has worked to get us here.”
Stage THREE
The Monte Carlo Rally challenge of Gwyndaf Evans and Chris Patterson came to an end on stage three of the rally - the second competitive stage after the second stage of the day was cancelled - when the car left the road and was unable to continue. After being sixth in class on the opening stage of the testing rally, the GSE Motorsport-developed MG ZR was second quickest on the split times for stage three before being caught out by a patch of gravel at high-speed.
“It was going really well and the car was quick,” explained Gwyndaf. “We were second quickest on the split time up until that point, then the car stepped out violently on some gravel, we were unable to recover, and ended up on our roof in a ditch. The pace of the MG ZR shows that there is so much more to come from this car, and it's a shame we didn't get to prove that right here.”
“It's disappointing for the rally to be over so quickly for Gwyndaf,” said Brian Griffin, Manager, Motorsport, for MG. “The car has real potential and was going well - but this has already proved to be a rally of attrition.”
Stage three was a repeat of the morning's opening stage, a 28.7km climb on narrow mountain roads above Monaco.
The Monte Carlo Rally was the debut event for the new MG ZR rally car, which will be contesting the entire 2002 Junior World Rally Championship, to be held on six major rallies across Europe. Next JWRC event for the car and crew will be the Rallye Catalunya, to be held in Spain, which begins on March 22.
