J-WRC: Portugal finish the priority for young British pair

The Junior World Rally Championship resumes in Portugal on 27 May. While the battle for first place is likely to be a close fight between Kevin Abbring, Aaron Burkart, Thierry Neuville and Hans Weijs Jr, for young British driver Harry Hunt, the focus will be firmly on reaching the finish in Faro on Sunday afternoon rather than chasing a top result.

Hunt, 20, is embarking on his first season in the J-WRC at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta R2. Having only started rallying in March 2009, the London-based driver will still be learning the ropes when he tackles the gravel event for the first time alongside co-driver Seb Marshall.

“A good result is always the target but the main priority is to make sure we get to the finish,” says Marshall, who turns 22 on the Saturday of the rally, making he and Hunt one of the youngest partnerships in the field. “If we can manage that without using SupeRally then that would be perfect because this season is all about getting kilometres under our belts.”

By running an R2-specification Fiesta, Hunt isn’t in contention for overall J-WRC honours but he will be one of the favourites to land the Fiesta SportTrophy International class, which runs in tandem with the main event.

“We were the top R2 finisher in Turkey and also scored the highest ever finish for a Fiesta R2 on a WRC event in 18th overall, which was a massive bonus for us,” says Marshall.

While Hunt was completing a brief shakedown test in France on Tuesday (18 May), Marshall was at home in the UK carrying out his meticulous preparations for the rally.
“I’ve been pouring over all the maps and road books so I’ve got a good feeling for when we start the recce next Tuesday and also for the rally, and I will pass on the relevant information to Harry,” says Marshall.

“For this event the organisers sent us a DVD for all the stages. Although we won’t be able to write our pacenotes from it, it will give us a good idea of the characteristics of the stages.”

Vodafone Rally de Portugal marks the first appearance of the season in the J-WRC for Mathieu Arzeno, Yeray Lemes, Egoi Valdes Lopez and Hans Weijs Jr.