There was only a 30 minute service at the lunch break between the heats which, it turned out, wasn't nearly long enough for some.Dalton's car suffered a fuel pressure sensor failure on SS3 and was left stranded in the stage. With stage four starting just 400 metres after SS3 finished, and no access roads leading off, there was no chance for the team to recover the car in time to get it back to service to fix the problem. Frustratingly, the problem took only five minutes to fix, but Dalton's now perfectly healthy car was out of the rally. Similarly, Lewis Bates had a light roll that caused mostly cosmetic damage. The radiator had been holed, but had the Toyota team been able to get the car back to service, he would most likely have been a starter in the afternoon.
Teething problems will surface in any new format or trial period, and this was surely one of them, but it is not such an easy fix.Increasing the service time would have meant starting the rally earlier, which necessitates control officials being out in the forest an hour earlier as well. It also pushes the finish back, and with the autumn days shortening as winter approaches, this can also cause problems.
Spectators may feel short changes from a single day ARC round. Photo: Matt Whitten
The ARC needs to be given credit for trying new things though. If the new format works, fantastic. If it doesn't, then it's more than likely back to the tried and tested format.As for me, it was a weird feeling being back home again (after a five hour drive) by 9pm on a Saturday night, still having a full day of the weekend to go. Did I enjoy the one-day format? My jury's still out. I think for my mind, the two-day rallies are better, offering more variety and the chance to bring reliability and endurance into play. But for the competitors who want shorter rallies and less time away from home, I can see the advantages. Let's wait and see the future holds.
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