PALLETFORCE

Scotland's John MacCrone survived a chaotic day (Friday 30/03/12) in the Algarve hills behind Faro to head into tomorrow's final three stages of the Rally of Portugal with very hope of scoring WRC Academy points.

The 22-year-old from the Isle of Mull — whose Ford Fiesta travelled most of the way from Lisbon to Faro on the back of a flatbed truck after he damaged the car on Stage 2 on Thursday evening — was in defiant mood when he spoke at rally HQ.

 "I definitely think we can still score points this weekend," MacCrone, whose Rally Team Scotland car is backed by Tunnocks and Palletforce, stated.

 That though had looked unlikely when he landed his Ford Fiesta heavily on its nose after he took a crest just 3km/h too quickly in the first gravel stage of the event.

 "It was a very, very small mistake," the Scot admitted. "But we paid a heavy price. The nose of the Fiesta dug deep into the gravel and we badly damaged the front of the car."

 That 'damage' ripped the sumpguard off the front of the Fiesta and damaged the oil cooler, resulting in the car dumping all its oil in the stage.

"It meant we couldn't continue contesting Leg One," MacCrone, who had been just 6.5secs off the pace after his opening stage in the WRC Academy, continued.

 "But the guys checked the car overnight, confirmed the engine wasn't damaged and carried out repairs, we were able to restart this morning and tackle the rest of the rally."

 MacCrone was allowed to rejoin today's Leg Two of the rally, the opening round of the WRC Academy, under Super Rally rules: it meant though he started the 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."

But as MacCrone set about clawing back time, today's atrocious conditions — the torrential rain, fog and cloying mud was not what the organisers of the Algarve-based event had planned — hampered him further.

After the day's opening two stages, Stage 7 was cancelled after two cars stranded themselves trying to ford a rain-swollen river on their way to the stage start.

That left half the field stranded deep in the hills, and with the cars running out of fuel, organisers instructed the cars instead to return to Faro.

But as conditions continued to deteriorate, the inevitable decision was taken, on "safety grounds", to also cancel the re-run through the same three stages later in the day.

MacCrone was left frustrated by the decision, but fully accepted and understood the ruling.

"I don't know what the Safari Rally is like to do, but what we experienced today is probably as close to what I ever imagined it to be: it's been horrendous," he said.

"It's unbelievable. The hardest part is getting up hills: there's just no grip. It's crazy. There's just no traction.

"We dropped a little bit on stage times today, but most of that was because we caught the guys in front of us: and we were running at two-minute intervals.

"The main thing is though, we're still going. If we can stick to our strategy tomorrow and get to the end, then who knows what might happen?

"I think if we can manage to salvage some points out of a mistake, then that would be a major achievement."