A UK rally crew have won the 2008 Paperclix Jersey Rally at their first attempt on tarmac.
Driver Anthony Willmington and co-driver Andrew White powered to victory in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 over the ten-stage course on Friday and Saturday. Afterwards, they said they were ecstatic to have sealed such a great win over some tough competition.
Willmington said: ‘It was hard work – really tough. You had to keep your concentration at all times, and be really careful of the car in the lanes. ‘It’s been a fantastic event and Jersey is a great place to host a rally like this. The roads are really quite smooth and really, really fast.’
Willmington and White, who were making their Jersey Rally debut, are already an established off-road rally team and are former champions of the Newton Abbot Rally. The Dorset-based crew now plan to continue to compete on tarmac, and intend to return to Jersey to defend their title next year.
First Jersey crew home were Jeremy Baudains and James Ollivro, who finished fourth in their Escort MK 2 (pictured). Last year’s winners Simon Mauger and Laura Johnson won the Trophy Rally – a competition for those that had to pull out on the first day but could rejoin the action on Saturday – after suffering from contaminated fuel on Friday’s second stage.
• Words: Kathryn Lundy • Pictures: Tony Pike • Picture sales
