For Stobart crew Barry Clark and Scott Martin it has been a dream start to their 2007 Fiesta SportingTrophy International (FSTi) campaign. Competing for the first time on snow, the 24-year-old dominated proceedings taking top honours in both the FSTi and overall N3 classifications.
The event was the first round of the FSTi series and Clark led the rally from start to finish. Leg 1 saw the crew notch up five fastest stage times on their way to a comfortable overnight lead of over two minutes. Pre-rally concerns of local domination were soon dashed as Clark’s talent shone through and he seemed at ease on the snow-covered, frozen gravel stages.
His form continued throughout legs 2 and 3, where the current Junior WRC Rookie champions extended their lead. As other competitors struggled with the ruts and difficult Norwegian conditions, Clark’s first attempt at rallying on snow and ice was immaculately executed, pushing on the smooth driver-friendly stages and holding back on the tricky and sometimes very narrow mountain roads, controlling the race from the front.
The final day’s conditions suited drivers more, with minimal snow falls on the less eventful final day of Rally Norway. The leg began with competitors tackling the glorious Mountain stage, a 24.36 kilometre climb up the mountainous regions east of Lillehammer. The final war was waged on the events longest stage, the 44.28 kilometre Elverum test, a perfect battleground to finalise overall competitor standings.
Clark showed incredible pace over the weekend winning nine out of 18 stages in the N3 classification and finishing a massive 3 minutes and 36 seconds ahead of second in that class, and an even bigger 4 minutes 26 second margin over his closet FSTi rival. On top of this he was seventh production-based car, an amazing feat considering the number of much more powerful vehicles in this class.
Clark’s next event will be Rally Portugal, round five of the World Rally Championship, where he will look to extend his lead on the highly regarded FSTi one-make championship.
Barry Clark said:
“That was an excellent start to the championship for me, I really wanted to win here. After the small problems we had last year, it was good to get an overall win. I was a little worried going into the event as it was my first on snow, but I really concentrated on my driving and on improving my pace over the three days. Both my pace notes and my driving have improved from last year and I’m looking forward to giving the guys a run for it in Portugal. I have a really good season planned and thanks to Stobart Motorsport and my other sponsors, I should get quite a bit of experience this year. â€
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