Network Q RAC Rally 23-25 November 1997

The first day of the RAC Rally got under way under the cover of thick 
fog this morning from the Cheltenham racecourse, but soon a pattern 
evolved in the 2 litre class that saw Mark Higgins and Phil Mills 
battling hard with his regular British Rally Championship rivals 
Alister McRae and Gwyndaf Evans. However, by the time they returned 
back to Cheltenham, it was an unfortunate incident in the first 
Donington stage that curtailed matters for the British Champions when 
he was leading the 2 litre class. Indeed it was the frustration of 
being stuck on top of a straw bale cost Mark two minutes that he lost 
the lead of the F2 class.

It was a bitter blow in a day that had seen the Almera GTi in it's 
first ever rally and easily holding it's own amongst the world's best. 
Many miles of testing has taken place over the past few weeks in 
preparation for this event, something that the team was keen to cash 
in on once the flag had dropped for this event.

Their was a slight problem with the engine of the car earlier on in 
the day when there was a misfire at lower revs, but it didn't hinder 
the 26 year old on his way once the problem was sourced, but that was 
before the straw bale incident.... "We were going really well into 
Donington, but it's so greasy out there it can be very deceptive.  I 
locked up the fronts and that was that - straight onto this bale. It 
was just like ice.... I drove for a bit with the bale underneath but 
soon stopped. It was a case of I should have continued on to wear the 
thing out, but when I did, the marshals wouldn't let any more people 
through the fence to lift the car so it was very gauling.", said Mark. 
"Same old story, a burn from the stern tomorrow..."

"It will mean that we're running a little further down tomorrow but 
they're stages I know well so I hope to take some time back." as Mark 
looks forward to the seven stages tomorrow. "If it is foggy like it 
was this morning, it could turn to our advantage when it clears as we 
are running a little further back, but it obviously not the best of 
situations to be in."

The Super-Special stage at Silverstone was used in International 
competition for the very first time, but that didn't stop Mark from 
winning his back-to-back race with a Group A 4x4 Subaru - an 
impressive feat considering the extra traction of his competitor.

Dave Whittock, General Manager of NME, "Although we've had a few 
problems, I'm very happy with the way the car has gone today. It was 
unfortunate with Mark's mistake, but with these type of stages on the 
Sunday, it can be small matters like these that hold things up. 
Mark'll go well in Wales - we all know that, so it'll be step by 
step."

The Micra Kit Car crew of Geoff Jones and Rhydian Welson got their 
rally off to a flying start as they where in a magnificent 7th in F2 
before falling a little down the order, but their progress was 
hampered due to the fact that there were so many slow and very 
slippery hairpins that really gave the advantage to the 4 wheel drive 
cars. They completed the day 12th in the 2 litre class.

"The day's been very good once we'd got rid of a small misfire. We 
have the class lead so that is what we came out to achieve. Yokohama 
have been brilliant that just adds to the whole enjoyment of driving 
this car - really great fun to drive." Asked what Geoff thought's on 
tomorrow were, he replied, I think it's the right place for me...." 

Masahiro Takasaki has steered the very same Nissan Micra that won the 
A5 class on last year's RAC Rally in the hands of Geoff Jones, and at 
the current time is lying second in class.

At the head of the field the battle for the World Championship was 
still being battled out between Colin McRae, Juha Kankkunen, and 
Didier Auriol in the first three places for the 4 wheel drive title.

2 LITRE POSITIONS AFTER STAGE 11 OF 26

F2	O'All	
1	18	A McRae/D Senior	VW Golf GTi			40.27
2	19	G Evans/H Davies	SEAT Ibiza				40.33
3	20	M Rowe/N Beech	Renault Megane			40.36
4	23	H Rovanpera/Silander	SEAT Ibiza				40.58
5	25	R Head/B Thomas	Renault Megane			41.19
6	38	M Higgins/P Mills	Nissan Almera GTi			42.35
7	40	N Wearden/T Agnew	Peugeot 306 GTi			42.41
12	65	G Jones/R Welson	Nissan Micra Kit Car		44.16
17	90	M Takasaki/H Hamada	Nissan Micra Performance Car  	48.05