TALENTED young British driver Frank Bird cruised to victory in his debut appearance at the Jersey Rally.
Driving a near-spotless Ford Fiesta Rally 2, co-piloted by Jack Morton, Bird won all but three of the stages on Island roads as he finished ahead of fellow British duo Richard Fishleigh and Jason McCullough – driving a Ford Escort RS – by over two minutes, in a combined time of 1hr 49min 27.60sec.
Last year’s runners-up, Jeremy Baudains and James Ollivro – in the ever popular Ford Escort MK2 – were the first Jersey pair to cross the finish line, two and a half minutes behind the leaders.
Having maintained the overall lead after five completed stages, Bird and Morton went into Saturday 37 seconds ahead of Fishleigh and McCullough. They kept their distance for the remainder of the rally with relative ease.
Twenty-three-year-old Cumbrian Bird, who up until recently has also been racing touring cars in Germany, said he would be back next year to defend his title having successfully negotiated the tight country lanes the Jersey Rally has to offer without a hint of a scratch.
‘It feels fantastic,’ said Bird on winning on his debut.
‘It’s been a mega two days. We didn’t really expect to get the win on one of the most challenging roads I’ve ever been on, so I’m really, really happy with the job, thanks to Jack who sat alongside me and all the team.’
Morton added: ‘It was pretty intense. I’ve never been to a rally where it’s just bang, bang, bang through everything.
‘But we’ve loved every bit of it and hopefully we’ll come back next year and defend that number one spot.’
Bird, who has a family connection to the Island through his mother’s cousin, who lives here, remarked on the challenges he faced – joking that every corner was touch and go as they sped through the Jersey countryside.
‘There are loads of hidden rocks everywhere and lots of difficult square corners; stuff we’re not used to,’ he added.
Bird now admits he is at a crossroads over whether to focus on driving on the track or stick to rallying, but says that both formats help each other out.
Meanwhile, last year’s winners and rally favourites, Ross Le Noa and Domonic Volante, had their title defence come to a crashing halt – literally – early on as they went out on the Maufant stage in the first session of the rally on Friday afternoon.
Le Noa hit a rock on the driver’s side, smashed the front rim and tension strut, bent the rear axle and ended up on the bank, just missing a tree.
The sole female driver competing in the rally, Alix Frances Touzel – co-piloted by aunt Alyson Touzel, driving a two-wheel forward drive Peugeot 205 GTi –completed the course in a time of 2.39.41.6 on her debut.
While Bird and Morton were first across the line among the Class E cars, other class winners were Jersey’s Paul Vibert and Richard Amy in a Ford Escort RS1300 (Class A); Paul Trebert and Jason Carre (Guernsey, Peugeot 206, Class B); Mark Syvret and Chris Fox (Jersey, Ford Escort MK1, Class C); Fishleigh and McCullough (Class D) and Andy Corner and Adrian Camp (UK, Peugeot 205, Class FWD2).
