Monaghan navigator Conor Mohan and his Donegal Driver Eammon Kelly competed in the HYAcenter Ralli in Finland last weekend.
Using the event in preparation for the next round of the Junior World Rally Championship, Secto Rally Finland, which takes place this weekend.
The event was exactly like the World round. Set on similar extremely fast gravel roads with huge crests which require big commitment and nerves of steel.
The pair used a Ford Fiesta Rally3 car, identical to the car to be used this week for the World round.
It is crucial to get the geometry settings correct; so the car is setup correctly for the rally start on Thursday night.
The rally began with a 22.9km special stage (Kehro 1). The pair finished in 12th overall and fourth in their class.
On SS2 (Kivijärvi 1) they moved up to 10th overall. A fastest time in their class moved them to second in class.
On SS3 (Latomaa 1) they could only manage a fourth in class fastest time; dropping to 11th overall and third in their class.
After a service stop and a check over on their car. The same three stages were repeated plus an extra 8.9km of a new final stage, SS7 (Savo).
On SS4, the repeat pass of SS1, completed the stage 20 seconds faster than the first pass. A nine second improvement on SS5 compared to SS4, climbing from 11th to ninth overall and from third in class to first.
SS6 saw a second improvement on their previous pass. However, they still fell to 10th overall and second in their class by just 0.6 seconds.
The final stage which was only 8.9km; saw a jump of three places to seventh overall and first in their class by 5.8 seconds, rounding off a brilliant event and a great warm-up for the World event this weekend.
The 306km of gravel stages on Secto Rally Finland begin this Thursday night and continues until midday Sunday, incorporating 20 special stages.
