MacCrone heads for Franceposted in RSCOT01 | 10 | 2012
SCOTS RALLY ACE John MacCrone heads to the next round of the World Rally Championship Academy in France this week (Oct 4-6).
And the 22-year-old from the Isle of Mull, who scored his first WRC Academy podium in the last round in Germany, is looking forward to returning to action.
"I haven't been in the car since Germany," MacCrone, who has two days of recce before the opening stage of the Rally de France on Thursday evening, said from the team's base in Strasbourg.
"It's six weeks since we were in the car, so I'm looking forward to the action this week. It's been a long time.
"We showed good pace on the Tarmac in Germany, and I'm hopeful we'll be able to repeat that in France this week."
Unlike Germany though, where MacCrone had previously competed last year, this will be his first outing on the French asphalt stages.
"Yeh, that's the big disadvantage," MacCrone, co-driven in his Palletforce and Tunnocks-backed Ford Fiesta R2 by Glasgow's Stuart Loudon, continued.
"It's my first time competing in France, but the rest of my main rivals in the WRC Academy already have experience of the event having done in in 2011, and that counts for a lot.
Top Tarmac drivers head to Tunnock's Mull Rally
"Our priority is to go out and make good, accurate pacenotes and then commit fully to them.
"We aim to set a good, comfortable pace through Thursday's opening SuperSpecial stage, and through Friday's seven stages.
"Then we'll then see where we're lying on Saturday and if we need to, we know we can turn up the pace and possibly take a few risks."
After six weeks of inactivity, the Rally Team Scotland crew — also backed by Musto, Bespoke Distribution Aviation, Glengorm Castle, S&S Joiners and TSL Contractors — face a hectic fortnight.
As soon as the Rallye de France finishes on Saturday evening, the crew heads back to Scotland to begin preparations for the Tunnock's Mull Rally five days later (Oct 12-14).
"It's going to be a busy few days, but I couldn't miss the Mull Rally," MacCrone continued.
"It's my home event and the chance to rally on the closed-off public roads on the island is just unmissable.
"First though we have a job to do in France, and we'll be doing everything we can to score some more WRC Academy points."
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Jim McGill