Rally Team News
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Palletforce’s commitment to ‘work with the best’ applies to every strand of our business – and we are delighted to be the official sponsors for some of the UK’s elite motor sport drivers. The two-car Culina Palletforce Racing team is set to contest the 2013 MSA Brittish Rally Chapionship (BRC). MSA Team UK driver John MacCrone will spearhead the attach and is joined by experienced Welsh co-driver, Phil Pugh. The second car will be crewed by Carlise ace, Peter Taylor with co-driver Andrew Roughead from Newcastle calling the pacenotes. Both crews will drive identical Citroen DS3 R3 rally cars.
“Palletforce’s commitment to ‘work with the best’ applies to every strand of our business.”
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Fine margins claim Scot John MacCrone and eight-times world champ Sebastien Loeb in Portugal
THE FINE MARGINS which distinguish between success and failure at the highest levels of motorsport are miniscule, as both Scotland's John MacCrone and eight-time world rally champion, Sebastien Loeb, discovered in Portugal.
Both drivers, at opposite ends of their careers in the World Rally Championship, succumbed to mistakes in the opening two gravel stages of the Rally of Portugal.
But while the Frenchman inexplicably turned left instead of right as his Citroen topped a high-speed crest, rolling his car out of the rally, MacCrone's error was simply carrying 3km/h too much into a crest on Stage 2 at Gomes Aires.
"It was a very, very small mistake," the 22-year-old from the Isle of Mull, admitted this morning after nursing his WRC Academy Ford Fiesta back to the overnight halt at Faro.
"But we paid a heavy price. The nose of the Fiesta dug into the gravel and we badly damaged the front of the car."
That 'damage' to the Tunnocks and Palletforce-backed car, ripped the sumpguard off the front of the Fiesta and damaged the oil cooler.
"It meant we couldn't continue," MacCrone, who had been just 6.5secs off the pace in after his opening stage in the WRC Academy, continued.
"But we managed to get the car back to rally HQ at Faro. The guys checked the car overnight and the engine isn't damaged, so now the repairs have been carried out we're going to do the rest of the rally."
MacCrone can rejoin the rally, the opening round of the WRC Academy, under Super Rally rules: he started Friday's six stages with a 15 minute penalty.
"Of course I'm disappointed," the talented young Scot, co-driven by Glasgow's Stuart Loudon, admitted, "it's definitely not the way I wanted to start my first rally in the WRC Academy.
"But we're here to learn as well as compete. We've six stages today, plus the final three tests on Saturday morning.
"It's not over yet, and given the torrential rain we've had overnight, who knows what's going to happen to the guys in front of me.
"There's a long way to go, and it's definitely not over yet."
In contrast, Loeb's rally is most definitely over. While MacCrone's car was repairable, the Citroen suffered a badly damaged rollcage in the impact which happened on Stage 3.
"They went off in a situation when the road turned on the top of a crest," Citroen team principal Yves Matton explained.
"The road turned to the right and Sebastien turned to the left. The pace note was good, but he didn't follow the indication."
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