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Shipley’s Luke Pinder and Leeds based co-driver Peter Scott took a fine 2^nd position in the Citroen Racing Trophy on the Pirelli International Rally over the weekend. Pinder did not rely entirely on his speed and ability. The crew took a tactical approach to the Keilder forest based round of the British Rally Championship.

“We knew from experience that this would be a rally of attrition, last year we were leading the Suzuki Swift cup and a small error in the pacenotes led to rolling out of the event. Given the dusty conditions and a throttle body problem we decided just to make sure that we were still in the rally after the Friday night stages.”

Although Saturday morning brought far better conditions, Pinder began to climb up the leader board as many crews pushed their luck and many fell foul of Keilder’s unforgiving ditches.

“We just played it safe” said Pinder. “We were in a position where we would have to push very hard to improve and decided it was not worth the risk. Given our steady pace the temptation to try and catch us proved to be the undoing of at least 1 Citroen crew and overall we improved our position to 2^nd over the course of the day without taking any risks.”

Pinder and Scott finished an impressive 13^th overall  and moved into 3^rd position in the season long Citroen Racing Trophy. They continue to be supported by Jam Motorsport, City Transport & Storage Ltd and Woof Thermal Management Technology

Colin Appleyard Suzuki / Corbeau Seats backed driver Luke Pinder sealed a fine championship win despite a character building day on the Trackrod International Rally of Yorkshire. The young Yorkshire man and co-driver Peter Scott started the event badly, fighting an unusual handling problem through the first stage until adjustments could be made. With the car sorted Pinder set about reducing the time he had lost. Storming through the 2^nd and 3^rd stages setting fastest times went some way to his recovery. However on the next stage the engine management light came on and the car lapsed into “safe mode” and Pinder struggled to maintain his pace. Despite the best efforts of his service crew the problem could not be fully resolved and Pinder was resigned to driving to the finish in the hope that the car would last.

As things turned out, both of his championship rivals had also hit problems and the Yorkshire man was able to cruise to his second victory of the year. In taking both the Swift Sport Cup win and the R1 class win on the event, Pinder / Scott sealed overall victory in the Swift Sport Cup and also took the British Rally championship R1 class title. Perhaps more importantly they also secured the Swift Junior Championship and with it a place in the prestigious Pirelli Star Driver final, which in turn could lead to a fully funded top line drive in the 2010 British Rally Championship. The prize for the Swift Sport Cup is a fully supported drive in the IRC Rally of Scotland in November.

“It has been a good year all round” said Pinder, “It is very satisfying that we can prove our pace and consistency through our stage times. Quite often the results don’t tell the full story, the stage times do and I’m very proud of what we have achieved as a team this year."