Callum Devine Best of the Irish in Portugal
After two long days on slippery stages, current Motorsport Ireland International Driver of the Year, Callum Devine and his co-driver James Fulton brought their Hyundai i20 home in ninth place, three minutes behind the winner, Alexey Lukyanuk.
“It was a good rally for us” said Devine after the event. “The pre event test allowed us to adjust settings on the car and also allowed myself and James to get used to each other as it was our first rally together. The event itself was exceptionally tricky. From rallying in Ireland, you get used to changing weather conditions, but I’ve never seen weather as unpredictable as I saw in Portugal at the weekend! Through no fault of our own, we ended up on the wrong tyres for 80% of the rally. On almost every loop, the weather changed. It could be raining in service, dry in the stage, and when you reached the stop car it could be raining again. It was pot luck if you got your tyres correct but that was the same for everyone. When we found ourselves on the correct rubber, we were setting top five times which was very encouraging. It’s the first time I’ve had full back to back competitive days in the car since Hungary last year and the finish and points were exactly what myself and the team needed.”
Craig Breen and Paul Nagle held a top three position for most of the opening day, but suspension damage on his Hyundai on the opening day saw him retire. He rejoined to do some tyre testing on day 2, eventually finishing in 18th place. Breen has recently been confirmed in Hyundai’s line up for the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship, the Ypres Rally in Belgium, which is scheduled to take place in mid-November and like Devine, he also plans to contest Rally Hungary, the next round the European Rally Championship.
Oliver Solberg of Sweden and his Motorsport Ireland licenced co-driver Aaron Johnston also battled in the top three placings on the opening day, but a turbo problem on their VW Polo left them well down the field at the finish.
Pauric Duffy and Jeff Case also sampled the Portuguese event, eventually bringing their Hyundai i20 home in 22nd place. After the event Case commented; “The event was run well but quite demanding with slippery conditions and changeable grip. We were hampered by a puncture and had to change a wheel during stage 14, which cost us a few places in the event. It was great to have a strong Irish contingent over there with us, particularly the calibre of driver like Callum Devine.”
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Pauric Duffy and Jeff Case in action on Rally Fafe Montelongo in Portugal.