Mitsubishi R5 News

Good result for Spencer Sport

22nd February 2016

Driving the Spencer Sport Mitsubishi Mirage, Jamie Jukes and his co-driver Dave Williams from Wales got their season off to an impressive start on Sunday’s (21st February) Llandovery-based Red Kite Stages. After loosing time due to a puncture on the first stage, they fought back over the remaining five to finish fourth overall.

Following its inaugural outing in the Wales Rally GB in November, the team’s R5 specification Mitsubishi has since been back to Sweden for a rebuild, before it returned to the UK last week. Jamie carried out a few short tests on the run up to this weekend’s event and admitted that he still felt a little apprehensive, there being three months since he had last driven the car.

However, when it came to the rally, it didn’t take him long to re-acclimatise and if it had not been for a puncture in the first of the day’s six forest stages, he and Dave may well have been higher than ninth when they started stage two. Becoming more familiar with the Mitsubishi as each of the event’s 45-competitive miles ticked by, they gathered pace and, after setting the second-fastest overall time through stage five, Jamie and Dave climbed up to fourth place.

With just one stage to go they were able to comfortably maintain their position and consequently returned to Llandovery for the finish delighted to have scored such an encouraging result on the first event of the season. Following the rally, Jamie said:

"I'm very pleased with how things went for us today. The car was great throughout the rally and the Michelin tyres worked really well. The Mitsubishi is relatively new to me and I'm still learning how to get the best out of it, so we were able to go quicker as the day went on. All things considered, I'm very happy with this result. It’s a excellent way to start the season and a great shake-down before the first round of the British Rally Championship in a couple of weeks time, which I’m now really looking forward to.”

The next event for Spencer Sport will be the opening round of the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship, the Mid Wales Stages, which takes place on 5th & 6th March.

ENDS

Photo: JMS Photographic

Photo: RallySport Media