For Immediate Release
6 December 2008
Jardine and Smith defy troubles to continue climbing the field at Wales Rally GB
Castrol / Evening Standard team now 42nd overall
The Castrol / Evening Standard team of Tony Jardine and David Smith finished day two of Wales Rally GB today experiencing slightly improved conditions compared to those that they endured yesterday. All stages were run in their entirety, and the weather provided bright sunshine instead of constant showers, thawing the ice out on the stages.
With the experience gained from yesterday’s conditions the media pairing made steady progress throughout the day. Within the first stage Jardine and co-driver Smith climbed three places overall, but then found themselves in trouble at a routine refuelling stop between the stages of Resolfen and Halfway. After taking the fuel onboard they tried turning the ignition only to have no response from the car. Driver Jardine made several attempts to get the car going, but had to result in calling team boss Olly Marshall to report the fault. Eventually the Ford Fiesta sparked into action.
Having had trouble earlier, journalist Smith and Sky Sports presenter Jardine decided to leave the engine running during their second refuelling stop, to prevent the car from not restarting for a second time, which would have cost them valuable time. Jardine knowing they had lost two world championship places and the fact they were edging closer to facing penalties, pushed hard to claim back valuable time.
Running 46th overall and third in class after stage three Jardine and Smith were gaining on the Turkish Castrol team, who were holding second in class N3. All of the hard work and immense enthusiasm put in by the team to regain positions was nearly undone on stage four, as they came round a tight left hand corner to see their Turkish rivals being helped by marshals following a spin in their path. It took quick thinking from Jardine to ensure that the two cars did not collide, which would have been without doubt the end of the rally for both teams.
The Castrol / Evening Standard team eventually got the Fiesta back to central service in Swansea, for a new set of Kumho tyres and an opportunity for the ProSpeed Motorsport team to have a close look at the car to see if there were any obvious faults that could be corrected. Everything was deemed to be fine and as the ignition was turned, the car fell silent again. The ProSpeed service team jumped into action once more, knowing that the allocated service was coming to an end with literally seconds to spare before the car came to life once more.
This would be the final problem that Jardine and Smith would encounter, allowing them to attack the field with no remorse. Pushing the Fiesta to the limit during the afternoon Jardine and Smith found themselves taking championship places with each stage they completed. The team entered the spectacular final stage of the day at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium lying in 43rd and after completing the laps in the stadium managed to secure another championship place.
Driver Jardine, alongside his now established co-driver David Smith will enter the final day of the championship event (Sunday 7 December) sitting 42nd overall and third in class. The media duo will have the finish ramp in mind as they aim to keep hold of their podium place.
Jardine commented on the day’s events, “It’s been a day of highs and lows and the stages have been in the same treacherous conditions as yesterday - we were sliding all over the place. We had a panic this morning when the car demobilised itself and stranded us at a petrol station, it took several attempts to get the car up and running again. David smith lost his way with the pacenotes in resolfan until he found he was reading the wrong stage notes! This afternoon he was back on song and we are chasing down second class.”
