Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt have endured a rough and tumble start to their weekend at the Rally de Portugal, the opening round of their 2016 WRC2 campaign.
Having completed two successful days of testing in their brand new Skoda Fabia R5 earlier in the week, along with their new team for 2016 from AutoTek Motorsports, Pedder and Moscatt had high hopes heading into this morning’s official shakedown stage only to see their world upended when they lightly rolled on the third run.
“We’d had a great lead up to the event testing, the car was just fantastic, so good to drive. Then we’d set the second fastest WRC2 on our second pass at shakedown, and with just three corners to go on our third run we dug into a rut and the thing tipped over,” explained Scott.
“The shakedown was on an autocross stage, it was all cut up from the WRC cars, and yeah we just hit that deep rut a little too quickly on turn in and up and over it went.”
With limited time between the shakedown and the opening Super Special Stage the AutoTek swung into action and had the Skoda beaten back into shape including panel and windscreen replacement.
Under a setting sun Pedder then blasted into the 3.36km Lousada stage, clocking the equal eighth fastest time amongst the ultra competitive WRC2 runners. “I don’t know what it is but I don’t really like that stage, it just doesn’t suit us or our setup,” lamented Scott.
“But the stages tomorrow are a great mix, from tight and twisty stuff on loose surface, to a faster stage along a ridgeline. I’m really looking forward to getting out there and tackling them in the morning,” he added.
With Pedder and Moscatt facing another strong WRC2 field in 2016, the Victorian driver is expecting the heat to be on from the very first corner of the opening stage tomorrow.
“The top three guys – Elfyn Evans, Pontus Tidemand and Teemu Suninen – are all seriously quick. If we can set a good top five pace consistently then we’ll definitely be in a position to snatch a podium spot if one of them falters. That’s our game plan!” Pedder added.