Fisher third in class in Estonia

Editorial Department • Published 21 Jul 2011 13:00 0 Comments

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Alastair Fisher finished third in class in Rally Estonia last weekend as he continued his build up to Rally Finland at the end of this month.

The Trillick driver has had a mixed start to his FIA WRC Academy challenge this season. After demonstrating his pace by surging into the lead of the first round in Portugal he dropped back to fifth following a late off road excursion, and on round two he failed to get through the opening test where car problems saw him side lined.

After a lengthy break the Fiestas now return to the championship for the highly specialised and demanding Rally Finland, and Alastair made the trip to Estonia to become acclimatised to roads similar to those he will face at the end of July.

"It was a very enjoyable rally, fast stages, a great atmosphere and lots of fans," said the 22-year-old. "But the most important thing was to do a gravel rally again after our second-place finish on the Donegal International Rally last month, which used asphalt-only stages. By going to Estonia we were able to make pace notes on stages with crests and fast corners, which is what we'll experience in Finland."

On the event he was once again locked in a tense battle with fellow Academy driver Craig Breen. Alastair held a slender advantage going into the final stage, but Breen overhauled him to grab second place in the class by just over a second. "We had no major problems in Estonia although the final two stages on Friday evening were a challenge because they were on Tarmac and we had to do them on gravel tyres," explained Alastair. "The stages required maximum commitment and it took me a couple of stages to really get into my stride but I was up to second in class A6 by the middle of the second day and I was happy with my result. Craig Breen finished 1.2s in front of me, so we had a great battle with him. A lot of effort went into Rally Estonia so we were really pleased to get some good mileage and experience under our belts."

Prior to heading to Estonia Alastair took part in a one-day test in Finland, which he used to develop the set-up of his Fiesta. He said the combination of his participation on Rally Estonia and his pre-event test has handed him a major boost ahead of Rally Finland, which he will tackle for the first time this year.

"Finland is a very fast and hard rally and when you look at some of the jumps on TV you get a bit apprehensive," said Fisher. "But Rally Estonia and the test we did have given me a lot of confidence and I feel I can go there and hit the ground running."

The Neste Oil Rally Finland gets underway on July 28.

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 21 Jul 11

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