A tenth place finish at Rally Turkey, for Barry Clark, has been a dream finish for the Munchi’s Ford World Rally Team driver. Clark finished the rally just one place off of his team-mate and reigning Argentinean champion, Federico Vallagra. Both drivers took manufacturers’ points from the event.
Clark came on as a last minute change on the Jordan Event. Rally Turkey was the first time Clark got an opportunity to contest a WRC Rally in a Ford Focus WRC car. This was also the first time he had managed to conduct a complete pre-event reconnaissance with his own co-driver, Paul Nagle.
Clark won the 2007 Fiesta Sporting Trophy at the international level. This resulted in him being awarded the fully funded drive with the Munchi’s team as a prize for that victory. Although the programme was initially meant to be limited to the Turkish event, additional support from his sponsors have ensured that his 2008 WRC schedule will include the Rally Corsica and Wales Rally Great Britain.
“This has been a dream rally for me,” said Clark. “We set out with the intention of getting to the end, so to finish inside the top 10 is amazing! The plan was to stay neat and tidy and that’s exactly how it went and I think that was the key to our success. We did have a few scares though; on the final stage the water temperature light came on, and earlier we hit a large rock which took a chunk out of the wheel, but luckily we made it to the finish. This result has helped immensely with my experience and confidence. It’s also highlighted that I need to adjust my pace notes to take account of the amazing speed of these world rally cars.”
The Munchi’s team has another 4 rounds of events to go in it’s 10-event campaign. On the next round in Rally Finland, Federico Villagra will be partnered again by the team’s co-owner Luis Perez Companc.