Dale takes 2nd Place
The Total supported Peugeot Super 1600 team took an excellent 2nd place on the Rally of Wirral. The Mediterranean beach front at the ‘New Brighton Promenade’ was the setting, for this, the first round of the new Formula Rally Championship.
Justin Dale Dale (Stockbridge) and Andrew Bargery (Brighton) took the first stage clocking an impressive 3 mins 57.1 seconds on the 4 miler, 2.9 seconds ahead of the similar car of ‘2000 Peugeot Super 106 Cup Winner’, Martin Sanson. Martin Rowe in the Ford Puma Super 1600 was a further 0.1 second back.
Dale and Rowe were split by a narrow 0.8 seconds on the second stage with the advantage this time falling to Rowe.
A blocked Catalytic Converter on stages three and four then cost Dale as he dropped 6.6 seconds over the two stages to see Rowe take a slender 4.4 second lead into stage five.
Stage six saw Rowe a mere 0.8 of a second ahead of Dale.
The faster stages were causing the Peugeot some problems and Rowe was consistently quicker on the straights whilst Dale was quicker through the twisty sections.
The final two stages saw Dale quicker than Rowe however it was not enough to catch the Puma and Dale finished 14.9 seconds behind.
It was a measure of the dominance of the leading two that the next competitor was a further 23.1 seconds behind Dale in 3rd place.
Mick Linford, Peugeot Sport Motorsport Director: I am very pleased with the excellent start to the season, the car performed faultlessly throughout the event and we are looking forward to the introduction of the new Peugeot 206 which we feel will be more than a match for the Puma.
Justin Dale, Peugeot 106 S1600 driver: The car was superb through the twisty sections of the Rally but we lost some time on the fast sections, all in all I’m delighted and it looks like it will be a very close battle all season between us and Rowe in the Puma. The introduction of the 206 later in the year should tip the balance in our favour.
More information and event results - see Official Peugeot Sport UK Site.
12th May 2001
