This was definitely not the start I had imagined for my RDRC-2 Debut. Things started off relatively alright on the first stage, taking it a bit slower and making sure to keep the car in one piece. But that was quickly thrown out of the window when an early mistake on SS2 left me with a badly damaged car. And with only a short service coming up, it meant that I had to carry my half-broken Subaru over around 7 stages.
With a good Rally finish out of my sights due to those damages, I shifted my focus onto bringing the car safely through the second part of Day 1, hoping that the car could be fixed well enough to be somewhat competitive on the Power Stage at the end.
Even though it was a very slow Day 1, the car came back into the service for the night, a few of the key components able to be quickly repaired leaving me with a somewhat functional car for Day 2.
Fate would have it that this was also not supposed to stay that way for long, with me losing control over the car on the first stage of Sunday which resulted in the car ending up in the stone wall with a damaged engine and two punctures. And with only one spare tyre with me, it meant having to torture the Subaru through the Sunday stages on 3 wheels.
The damaged engine and gear box dropped my average speed down to around 40 km/h and turned the second Day of the Rally into a relaxing Sunday Drive through the mountains of Monte Carlo.
I at least managed to bring the car back, albeit not in one piece and with a lot of repairs to be done until the Sweden Rally. It can only get better from here on out and here is to hoping that I'll manage to keep the car together in Sweden to actually start competing in the class.