2022 Mini Challenge First Drive!

We finally got here - My first Rally drive ever.

I entered the Mini Rally Challenge back in January 2022, but I missed the first 2 rounds due to other commitments, so my first drive and first round of the challenge would be the SMC Altratech stages at Trac Môn in Anglesey. 

I entered the championship and hired with WB Motorsport, who provided the Mini Cooper for the rally. Joining me as co-driver was Jack Morris, who had started rallying the year before and had in fact done his first rally here at Trac Môn as well.

We were both incredibly excited to get going, and unfortunately, on stage 1, I made a mistake! I missed a split on SS1, which meant we got a stage max penalty - for a first rally, with some stages having up to 4 splits, it was incredibly disorientating at times! We knew we were going to have to push the car hard over the following 7 stages.

Jack and I had a blast - we put in a couple of top 5 best times on some of the stages and am glad to say we suffered no mechanical issues or on-circuit incidents.

WB Motorsport were amazing all weekend, and really gave me a great start into the world of Rally driving. A huge thanks to Ben and Nathan for the support!

We took 7th in class and 5th out of the Minis on the day. Considering the stage max at the start, we recovered incredibly well. I knew with the pace we had, there was a podium to be had somewhere in the season. The next round is DST Leconsfield - and I can't wait!