Loudon set for Monte Carlo bid 15 | 01 | 2014
GLASGOW'S STUART LOUDON gets his World Rally Championship campaign underway tomorrow when he starts the famous Monte Carlo Rally.
The 25-year-old co-driver (pictured at the ceremonial start outside the Hotel de Paris) will partner Irishman Robert Barrable in their Tunnock's World Rally Team Ford Fiesta R5.
The duo, who formed their partnership in 2013, will tackle seven rounds of the WRC-2 championship, starting with the snow-covered Monte.
And despite being together in the car for the first time since Wales rally GB back in November, the pair posted the fourth-fastest time in today's shakedown.
"It was all about blowing the cobwebs away and really just getting back down to business," Loudon, great-grandson of Tunnock's founder, Thomas Tunnock, explained after completing the 2.23-mile test in the village of Chateauvieux in 2mins 39.4secs.
"The Monte is just such an immense event; one of the true challenges of the rallying calendar.
"Whilst Rob hasn’t competed on the rally before, he has the experience of being our ice note crew from last year — when I did the event with Japanese driver Ryozo Saito – so he knows what the challenge will be.”
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The three-day event, which will be fought out over the tight and twisty mountain roads high above Monaco, finishes late on Saturday evening.
Before that the crews tackle six stages tomorrow, followed by five on Friday, and the final four tests on Saturday.
In total the crews will cover 238.53 miles against the clock before the traditional awards ceremony in the square in front of the Prince's Palace in Monaco.
“Our strategy will be to see how things go on the first day and take it from there. If it goes well, we’re quietly optimistic of scoring a WRC-2 podium and bagging some early championship points.
"I think we have the pace of most of the opposition, but Monte Carlo is a very long rally and if the conditions are anything like they were last year, it will be extremely difficult.
"It is always easier to have a comfortable lead, or position that you don’t have to defend. Here you are always playing it safe."
The rally starts and finishes in Monte Carlo but is based for Thursday through to Friday in the town of Gap 410 miles (660kms) from the principality.
“After the fifth stage on Friday we have 135kms to drive down to Monaco," Loudon explained.
"Last year Ryozo let me drive that section, but I’ll need to work on Rob to let me drive the Fiesta at least some of the way so that I can experience the roads and pass some of the time.
"Otherwise it’ll be the usual argument of what playlist we can put on through the intercom. It’s either traditional Scottish music or traditional Irish music that we fight over, though Jayzee tends to win out."
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Jim McGill