586 Group

Black Back on Podium

18 year old Callum Black, Paul Wakely and the 586 Sport team, came through a troubled day to secure 3rd place on the Pirelli Rally and manintained a podium finish in the BRC Challenge championship.

Callum was out the blocks fast and was 2nd quickest through the first stage despite intercom issues, which continued throughout the day. Dropping 8 seconds to the experienced Julian Wilkes in his fast Nova, Callum went into stage 2 focusing on getting back to service and mounting a fight for the lead in the afternoon.

Back at service, lying in 2nd and 16 seconds down from Wilkes, Callum was pleased with the pace as he was taking no risks and knew that he was a strong finisher. The 586 Sports service crew were busy fixing the broken track rod end in service so Callum could push on with a fully functional MG to fight for the win. Unfortunately the intercom issues became worse in the afternoon forcing Callum to drop time in the fast sections. Furthermore, the fuel pressure began to drop causing a loss of power for the final 3 stages, meaning Black and Wakely had to crawl through the last stage dropping yet more time to Julian Wilkes and allowing Chris Peart to move infront.

Although Callum didn’t get the win he hoped for, another strong podium finish means Callum is still there fighting for the BRC Challenge title.

Callum commented:

“It was a shame we couldn’t push for the last few stages as I was confident in the morning that I would make the time up lost in the morning and raise my game. Unfortunately the car issues is just a part of rallying and we still made it to the finish. I will have to work on my tarmac driving and do some work to the car to make it competitive on the tarmac, and we will see what happens on the Jim Clark “.

Callum will next be contesting on the Plains rally on 15th May, in the BTRDA series, in Welshpool.

Please keep looking for regular updates on www.callumblack.com, with recent you tube videos and pictures in the gallery.