wrapIt s now two-from-two for Scotsman Barry Clark and Carlisle co-driver Scott Martin, who have cruised home to win the second round of the Fiesta SportingTrophy International in Portugal this weekend. The pair now lead the championship by an impressive seven points after taking overall victory on round one in Norway last month.
It was a tough rally for crews in the championship with rough conditions taking their toll on several of the 2.0 litre Ford Fiesta STs. Clark however was never concerned winning twelve out of a possible 18 stages to bring it home 37.9 seconds ahead of Welshman Simon Hughes.
Weather conditions proved to be a mixed bag with sunshine and clear skies on day one followed by torrential down-pours on day two, with the skies clearing again for the final leg of the rally. Road conditions were fairly rough for the Fiestas running down the order and the rain on day two created an enormous amount of mud making things extremely slippery as traction became an issue for the front-wheel-drive machines.
A frustrating Leg 1 greeted the lad from Aberdeen when he began catching the competitor in front and was slowed down in his dust; he still managed to win five out of a possible seven stages. The Stobart driver was also forced to drive at road pace through the 19.92 kilometre Tavira 1 stage after a yellow flag was waved but was given a notional time at the end of the leg.
For the 152.92 kilometres of competitive Leg 2 distance, Clark again dominated, topping the FSTi scoreboard on four stages to extend his overnight gap to 44.1 seconds over second. On stage 8 he went out cautiously in the slippery conditions loosing 9.3 seconds to Hughes but bounced back to be fastest on the following two stages.
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