Scott Pedder’s Italian adventure on the Mediterranean Island of Sardinia has come to a prematurely early end after his Ford Fiesta R5 suffered what is suspected to be an engine head gasket failure.
The day had begun extremely positively for Pedder and co-driver Dale Moscatt, they set the 15th fastest WRC2 time on the short 1.40km Ittiri Arena stage, and then ratcheted up the pace on the subsequent Monte di Ala test to claim the 9th fastest WRC2 time.
“I intentionally started the day pretty cautiously after yesterday,” said Scott of the beginning to his day. “Our splits on the next two stages were looking very promising, it was very positive to see. Unfortunately by the end of the third stage we’d started to have to slow because of overheating brakes and tyres.”
With the first run over the daunting Monte Lerno stage ahead Pedder began positively, making it halfway through the stage with what was looking to be a promising set of split times, only for his Fiesta to begin flashing an engine temperature warning.
“You get a warning where the screen flashes yellow, so we slowed the pace a little, then around the mid point it started to flash red. We pulled over and checked over the car, couldn’t see anything wrong, so continued on at a really reduced pace,” explained Scott.
“By the end of the stage the car was stopping and starting, so we knew something was seriously wrong and it was best to end the day there.”
In the rush to try to diagnose the issue and hopefully find a solution Dale scalded his hand removing the radiator cap. “He’s all bandaged up now, and he made some new Italian friends on the side of the road who found him some ice for his hand,” said Scott.
For the car though it would be not only the end of the day, but also the end of the rally. “It looks like the head gasket has let go. The engine temperature reached 115 degrees and that’s pretty bad. The team has had a good look over the car and they think there is a tiny hole in the radiator that has caused the problem.”
“The hole literally could have happened anywhere – a jump or any of the hundreds of impacts the car has taken at this rally,” Scott continued. “It’s possible we could restart tomorrow but there is a chance it could do even more damage, so we’re better off ending it here.”
While it has been another rollercoaster weekend for Pedder and Moscatt, following on from their adventure last time out in Portugal, Scott says he’s seen enough positives to keep his spirits up ahead of the next Round in Poland.
“We’ve definitely made some improvements to the car with the diff setups. We might have sacrificed a little bit in the tight stuff, but on the fast roads the car is incredible, really stable, and that’s great news for the roads we’re going to face next in Poland and Finland.”
“Also our pace overall has improved, we can see we’re about a second per kilometre of the top guys, which is massively positive. We’ve also seen that our tyres work really well in the softer, cooler conditions and again that bodes well for Poland and Finland,” said Scott.
“All we need now is to string all these positives together into one good weekend!”
The next Round in Scott’s WRC2 program, the 72nd Rally Poland (2nd-5th July), is one of the fastest gravel events on the calendar. Based in Mikolajki, several hours north of Warsaw, it features 19 stages totaling just over 325 kilometres.
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