Repco Rally Team driver Mick Patton is in a serious race against time to have his Volkswagen Polo ready after suffering a significant crash during a warm-up rally sprint over the weekend.
Patton and co-driver Bernie Webb had planned to utilise a test road to prepare their VW for the upcoming Rally Victoria, but after the road became unavailable at the last minute they elected instead to contest the Blue Range Rally sprint.
“It’s just a local event, a last minute entry was made so we could test the car,” explained Webb.
Driving at competition speed Patton had set the Polo up for a tightening corner through a gate. “It was a tight left hander,” Webb continued. “Mick had the car turned in and was already back on 100% throttle when the outside of the tyre clipped the inside of the steel gate post.”
Webb said that the sudden force of the impact broke the suspension and running gear on the left front corner of the car, sending the right rear of the car spinning anti clockwise into the other gatepost.
“The body work is mostly ok, the real damage is all underneath the car,” Bernie continued. “The team have assessed the car and we feel that we have all the parts to get the car back up and running. But there is a lot of work to do.”
“There is every risk we won’t be in Victoria though, all it would take would be some damage we hadn’t accounted for and that’d be it. It’s our absolute intention to be there though. That’s rallying, it’s not how the problem occurred it’s how you come back from them that matters.”
Patton and Webb have promised full updates on their team Facebook page for fans wanting to follow the progress of their repairs.
Rally Victoria, the sixth and final Round of the 2014 East Coast Bullbars Australian Rally Championship begins Friday week (14th November) at Lardner Park, near the township of Warragul.
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