Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Classic Safari Rally team-update ahead of rest day in Nairobi

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Classic Safari Rally team-update ahead of rest day in Nairobi

Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy’s Classic Safari Rally team-update ahead of rest day in Nairobi

The Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy team contesting this year’s East African Classic Safari Rally in Kenya heads into Thursday’s rest day after nearly a week of high adventure.

The East African Safari will run until December 18 and will cover 2,100 km of competitive sections on classic Kenyan roads between Nairobi and Mombasa.

The rally got underway on Saturday last and Academy founder and patron John Coyne and Academy’s driver Josh McErlean set the fastest time on the event opening prologue stage.

Sharing a Tuthill Porsche 911 Coyne and Academy McErlean are set second fastest on the opening 120km competitive section from Sokoke to Samburu but were forced to change a gearbox and steering arm before the second test.

Stage two was very fast and flowing and their also Porsche 911 suffered two rear punctures – attributed to the heat.

Stage three was quite a rough stage and early on in the stage an impact occurred and fractured the steering rack, after limping for a while they pulled in and repaired the offending part which allowed them to continue further.

 “Unfortunately it failed completely later in the stage and they did all they could but had to wait for mechanics to come in with a spare,”  said their backup chief and Rally Academy co-driver Eoin Treacy.

By Monday they had dropped to 43rd position. However, on Wednesday John was feeling under the weather and was too ill to continue in the event.

Under rally rules, the Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy team were able to nominate the replacement of one crew member to allow them to continue in the event.

This promoted McErlean to full-time driver and Tracey took over the co-driving role – a remarkable first for the Academy as it now had two u-and-coming talents contesting the legendary bi-annual event.

“We had a good day. The stages were quite fast. We set a good time on the first one after settling into it,” explained Cork-based co-driver Treacy.

“In the second stage we were stopped twice with issues but still happy with the pace.

“On the third stage again we stopped once in the stage. Overall a good day.”

Those issues included fuel starvation problems and on Thursday they lost over an hour after being caught in a heavy rain shower and getting stuck in a river crossing.

Nevertheless, the crew reached the overnight rest halt near Nairobi in 36th position overall. The well-earned rest day will give them time to prepare for the final nine stages before the event’s conclusion on Monday

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