DALE CLAIMS FIRST VICTORY FOR CUP CAR
In a stunning, but measured drive, Justin Dale and Craig Parry achieved top Group N honours and fourth overall in their Subaru Impreza Cup car in the Tempest National event.
"We set out at the beginning of the event to prove how competitive this new specification car could be, and I feel sure we will have opened the eyes of a lot of prospective competitors with the results we have achieved today," said a triumphant Dale in the Rushmoor service park after the event.
From stage 1 the newly-linked pair of Dale and Parry hit the front of their Gp rivals leaving a number of faster WRCs well behind and being just 1.2secs behind event leader Martyn England.
The 8.05-mile Longmoor stage enabled the teams to settle down, with 2005 victor and eventual winner Will Nicholls hitting the No 1 spot but with Dale only 14.3 seconds behind the world rally car.
Maintaining a top-five slot on virtually every stage throughout the event, the CMC/Prodrive run entry-level car amazed spectators with its stage performance. "Throughout the day we were being approached by competitors and spectators who found it difficult to believe that a car, costing less than £40,000 new, could be performing in the way it was," said Dale.
13th Nov 2006
