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Harry Hunt Rally Islas Canarias preview
The island of Gran Canaria, venue for round two of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge later this week, is the third largest of the seven Canary Islands. If all goes to plan for British talent Harry Hunt on the demanding Tarmac event then a third place finish in the IRC 2WD Cup is more than realistic.
Hunt, 22, has never rallied on Gran Canaria before and faces opposition from several local experts, including last year’s two-wheel-drive winner Yeray Lemes, not to mention tricky mountainous tests, two of which will be run at night.
The island’s stages are characterised by their fast and undulating nature, while the unique road surface, formed partly from volcanic lava, can lead to excessive tyre wear. And with the competitive action contained within a 24-hour window, there will be no respite for Harry and his Citroen DS3 R3 rally car.
Accurate pacenotes are essential for fast times on the Las Palmas-based event: brake too early for a corner and a driver is in danger of scrubbing off too much speed. But brake too late and a driver could compromise their corner exit speed. With numerous climbs and descents littering the route maintaining momentum is vital.
To help Harry in the difficult process of making an effective set of pacenotes, the experienced Robbie Durant has been recruited to co-drive for Harry for the first time.
“One of the areas I need to work on is my pacenotes,” said Harry. “I’m getting there and working really hard but it’s all about experience. Robbie brings so much experience and that can only help me. We spent a day together testing in France and it went really well. I know it’s not going to be an easy rally although I tend to adapt quicker to Tarmac rallies I don’t know than I do to new gravel rallies.”
Harry will start Rally Islas Canarias on the back of a recent two-day test in Monchique, north of Portimao in Portugal’s Algarve region. The London-based driver sampled two different roads representative of the conditions found on Gran Canaria. He covered approximately 300 kilometres.
Iwan Evans, Harry’s team manager, explained: “We worked on car set-up, tyre choice and tyre pressures and everything went to plan. We had too many niggles on Rally of Portugal so it was good for Harry to get some more time in the car and work with Robbie for the first time. A top three in the IRC 2WD cup would be a great result and it’s more than realistic.”
Rally Islas Canarias gets underway with a ceremonial start in the town of Las Palmas on Thursday evening (April 14). The event features 12 stages and covers a total distance of 668.28 kilometres prior to the finish on Saturday afternoon.
People at home can keep up with Harry’s exploits through his regularly-updated Twitter feed (twitter.com/HarryHunt) and his Facebook page. For more information on Rally Islas Canarias and the IRC please visit www.rally-irc.com.
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