'Hughes dominates on Astra RallyD debut'

Despite a frustrating weekend at the British Rally Championship's Jim Clark Rally, Simon Hughes and co-driver Claire Mole dominated the Diesel Cup category of the event winning every competitive stage they contested. The result was made even more spectacular as the MSA British Rally Academy driver piloted his exciting Vauxhall Astra RallyD car to stage wins in only its first competitive outing.

Based on the limited edition, road-going Astra 888 CDTI model, the vehicle has been developed specifically for rallying by engineering specialists 888 in conjunction with Thurlby Motors.

Round two of the MSA British Rally Championship was held on the exciting, but demanding, tarmac roads close to the event's base in Kelso; set in the heart of the Scottish Borders. The quick, closed public road stages are ultra-fast in the dry, but treacherous in the wet, and suited the excellent power and torque delivered by the RallyD's 200bhp diesel-powered, 1.9 litre engine.

Hughes and Mole stamped their authority on the event right from the opening stage on Friday evening and re-started on Saturday in exactly the same fashion; setting a string of top-times in the Diesel Cup category.

Their spectacular debut in the RallyD came to an end, however, on the 10.9 mile Abbey St Bathans test when they broke a drive-shaft on an uphill hairpin corner mid-way through the stage.

The 23-year-old driver, from Conwy in Wales , was left stranded in the stage and forced to re-start on Sunday; albeit with 40 minutes of time penalties for the remaining day's stages he failed to complete.

The pair picked up where they had left off, setting fastest times on all six Sunday stages, with Mole's local knowledge proving fundamental in the crew's stirring performance. They eventually finished fourth in the Diesel Cup and 32 nd overall on the event.

Apart from the broken drive-shaft, the Thurlby mechanics never laid a spanner on the car during the entire weekend; a credit to the development undertaken by 888 and Thurlby Motors.

Simon Hughes said:

“It was an up and down weekend for us. In general the car felt quite good and was very impressive straight out of the box. It was frustrating to break a drive-shaft but at that point we had won every stage and were leading the Diesel Cup by over two minutes. Then we set fastest times again on the final day demonstrating the car's total dominance within the diesel class. I think with some more development work the car would go from a good car to an amazing car and be able to challenge some of the top front-wheel-drive runners in the BRC. The RallyD has been specially designed for this purpose and I think this showed. It felt really good right from the start and the brakes, suspension and chassis, not to mention the amazing power and torque from the engine, are pretty impressive.”

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