As the Donington round of the MSN championship was cancelled this year due to snow, I was looking forward to the Dukeries Rally at Donington. I had only competed there once before and this was my first opportunity to put the Fiesta through its paces there. Jamie was back in the co-driver’s seat for this event and we had some new Michelin tyres to try out instead of our usual Pirellis.

We were unsure of what the weather would do on the first stage with rain threatening at the start of the day but the track was dry so we went for a hard compound Michelin tyre on the front and a softer compound on the rear. The first stage went really well and we were sitting 27th overall and 4th in class.

The rain got a bit heavier on the second stage but the track stayed mostly dry and we managed to set a time which was 20 seconds faster and moved up a class position although we dropped to 32nd overall. Stages 3 and 4 went well and by lunchtime we were sitting 3rd in class and had moved back up to 28th overall.

In the afternoon the stages were reversed so we were running the track in the opposite direction. Unfortunately we had a spin at the Old Hairpin on the first of these reverse stages, stage 5, which cost us a lot of time. On stage 6 we lost a bit of time due as we were low on fuel due to a faulty fuel gauge so we were sitting 4th in class heading into the last stage.

We had a good run on stage 7 so ended the day on a high, but unfortunately lost too much time on stages 5 and 6 to be able to catch 3rd in class. We finished 4th in Class 2, 32nd overall and I received the Observer Trophy for being the highest placed lady driver. I was really pleased with this result and I’m looking forward to getting out in the car again soon.