Team Hippo headed south this weekend (7th-9th April) to take part in the Somerset Stages Rally. Driver and co-driver, Tom Preston and Andrew Roughead, respectively, were seeded 9th at the beginning of the event. It was a tough rally with many surprises in store for the team, but they were determined to improve on last year’s results.
Despite starting 9th, the team had dropped to 11th overall after the second stage. However, never being ones to give up without a fight, Tom and Andrew fought back. Throughout the day, they continued to improve, eventually reaching 6th place overall with two stages remaining.
With a podium finish in sight, a big effort was needed on the final two stages. However, as is the case so often in rallying, mishap befell them. The team overshot and were stuck in a banking for close to 30 seconds. This put the team back to 9th place overall. As is so often said in this sport: “that’s rallying for you!”
The Somerset Stages Rally was founded in 1977 and has had 23 different winners in 38 events over the last forty years. It is the only multi-venue rally held in the South of England and has been awarded the Bill Turner Trophy for best BTRDA event twice in the past five years.
Team Hippo’s next event will be the Pirelli Rally, which is part of the British Rally Championship. We look forward to seeing you there. Also, follow our progress and updates on Facebook and Twitter.
