SCCA ProRally - Rim of the World - Day One News and
Results
For immediate release 03 May, 2002
SCCA® ProRallysm Championship - Round 4 - Rim of the World
Hyundai Leads - Day One Results and News
PALMDALE, California 'America's Toughest Rally' took little time asserting
its position, eliminating one key player on the very first stage, and picking
off several others in no time at all. Paul Choiniere lead most of the
evening, taking good advantage of the clear air from his first on the road
position, but handed off the lead to teammate Mark Higgins when drivetrain
problems sidelined the 8-time champion late in the evenings stages.
Key Notes & Quotes:
· Paul Choiniere's season has been a tough one, now with four consecutive
non-finishes, but both he and his Hyundai were showing real signs of them
teams commitment to the program - winning one stage outright and tying for
best time on another. Hyundai's Motorsports Manager Toni Honsowetz was clear
this morning: "we're not jumping to any conclusions on the cause of this
failure until we do a full analysis - we've got 4 weeks to get the problems
solved before STPR (round 5); we will get it sorted."
· Rod Millen's return to SCCA ProRally competition lasted just a few
minutes, with the right front suspension upright failing on hard cornering on
the first stage - a difficult start to his rekindled career, but accepted as
part of the development process. Rhys Millen, soldiering on in his Evo 6.5
(the team made a last minute car swap between Rhys and Rod minutes before the
rally started), suffered a puncture on SS3, and lost a lot of time to the
leaders - unofficially now at nearly 24 minutes, a nearly impossible amount
of time to make up on this highly technical rally, but he must do what he can
to ensure the company earns at least a few points in the very close
manufacturers championship.
· Subaru continues to have rocky goings in this cruel sport, as Mark Lovell
rolled his WRX in SS4, losing some time, but managing to bring his now well
wrinkled car back to the mid-evening service for some very hasty bodywork and
suspension adjustment. The car still mechanically sound, the crack Prodrive
crew was able to manage even a few cosmetic repairs to the car in the short
(about 20 minutes) time they had before he and faithful co-driver Steve
Turvey roared back off into the darkness.
· Ralph Kosmides and Jimmy Brandt had a character building day one,
suffering a broken left front suspension upright, and losing a cylinder in
their Subaru WRX-STi Group N car, but having narrowly avoided at time-bar at
service, are continuing on after a long night of repairs.
· In the overall standings, the works teams are back on top, with Hyundai's
Mark Higgin's leading by a fairly comfortable 30 seconds over Subaru's Ramana
Lagemann, who finished the first day 10 seconds ahead of current Driver's
Championship points leader David Higgins. Mark Lovell, despite his dramatic
rollover, holds onto 4th position, less than a minute behind the leading
Hyundai - a remarkable achievement, and 2001 Gr N champion Karl Scheible's
first drive in 2002 has him in a comfortable 5th place.
· Independent Drivers to watch in day two include the Canadian duo of Scott
and Bob Trinder - who started the rally in 32nd position - and now occupy 8th
place in the innovative, automatic transmissioned Subaru Impreza from the
fiercely independent team of Knight Racing. John Nelson started his PGT
Subaru Impreza 2.5RS in 59th place, and worked all the way up to 16th, and
series regulars Craig Peeper and Ian Bevan have done similarly in their Group
N Subaru SRX, gaining 28 positions, now in 14th.
· Day two of the Rim of the World Rally begins tomorrow at with extensive
festivities including a charity RallySprint, at 9:00 AM from the Holiday Inn
Hotel in Palmdale. An autograph session, and a Parc Expose of all the rally
cars is included. The rally officially restarts at noon for a full afternoon
and evening of rallying, with cars not returning to Palmdale until 10:00 PM.
Rim of the World - SCCA ProRally Championship - Round 4
03-04 May, 2002
Top 25 Leg One Finish Order (unofficial)
times are in hours: minutes: seconds
Start Finish Car# Time Seed Class Driver Name Co-Driver Car
3 1 5 45:22 0 Open Mark Higgins Michael Gibson 03 Hyundai
Tiburon
9 2 2 46:04 1 Open Ramana Lagemann Brian Maxwell 02 Subaru WRX
4 3 16 46:10 FIA Open David Higgins Chris Patterson 02 Subaru WRX
2 4 1 46:14 0 Open Mark Lovell Steve Turvey 02 Subaru WRX
5 5 61 47:30 0 Open Karl Scheible Wayne Scheible 00 Subaru
Impreza
11 6 110 47:57 1 Open Mark Nelson Charles Bradley 00 Mitsubishi
Lancer Evo 6
12 7 32 51:17 1 Open Paul Eklund Scott Huhn 02 Subaru WRX
25 8 124 52:02 3 N Peter Workum Allesandro Gelsomino 02 Subaru
WRX
32 8 259 52:02 4 Open Scott Trinder Bob Trinder 00 Subaru Impreza
21 10 374 52:27 3 Open Leon Styles John Dillon 92 Audi S2
26 11 103 52:37 3 N Wyeth Gubelmann Therin Pace 02 Subaru WRX
24 12 88 53:29 3 Open Doug Havir Scott Putnam 02 Subaru WRX
23 13 891 53:52 3 Open Randy Zimmer David Shindle 96 Subaru
Impreza
42 14 94 54:04 5 N Craig Peeper Ian Bevan 02 Subaru WRX
18 15 275 54:19 2 Open Nat T-Stow John Elkin 02 Subaru WRX
59 16 382 54:34 5 PGT John Nelson M Samli Subaru Impreza 2.5RS
28 17 207 54:50 3 G5 David Hintz Rick Hintz 88 Mazda RX-7 turbo
29 18 90 54:57 3 G2 Lauchlin O'Sullivan Matt Chester 02 Mitsubishi
Lancer RMR
31 19 79 55:02 3 P Jeff Field David Weiman 02 Toyota Celica GTS
33 20 77 55:11 4 PGT Bob Henderson John McArthur 02 Subaru WRX
43 21 306 55:35 5 N Wolfang Hoeck Julie Lin 02 Mitsubishi Lancer
Evo VII
57 22 332 56:06 5 G2 Michael Masano Linda Masano 88 Toyota Corolla
FX16
30 23 42 56:26 3 G2 Eric Burmeister Eric Adams 01 Mazda Protégé MP3
53 24 72 56:28 5 P John Hamilton Josh Westhoven 02 VW Golf TDi
46 25 220 56:29 5 PGT Bruce Davis Claire Chisma 91 Eagle Talon TSi
Day One ProRally Retirements - unofficial
Start Car# Seed Class Driver Co-Driver Year Mfg Stage
Reason
6 4 0 Open Rod Millen Cal Coatsworth 02 Mitsubishi SS1
Suspension
17 48 2 Open Lon Peterson John Elkin 00 Subaru SS2 Alternator
934* G2 David Johansen Tom Bier 86 VW SS3
107 1 Open Tim Paterson John Allen 97 Mitsubishi SS3
7 13 0 Open Richard Tuthill John Bennie 97 Mitsubishi SS4
Electrical
37* Open Tony Chavez Eddie Cardenas 91 Mitsubishi SS4
1 6 0 Open Paul Choiniere Jeff Becker 03 Hyundai SS5 Undisclosed
drivetrain
34 1 Open Peter Lahm Tony Lumino 97 Mitsubishi SS6
*indicates entrants that may be allowed to restart Day 2 if entrant chooses
to make repairs and car passes Scrutineering.
Web sites:
· SCCA ProRally: http://www.sccaprorally.org
· SCCA Rim of the World Rally: www.rimoftheworldrally.com/
The SCCA name and logo is a registered trademark of the Sports Car Club of
America, Inc. ProRally, ClubRally and RallyCross are service marks of the
SCCA.
The SCCA ProRally Championship is presented by Hyundai, Mitsubishi and
Subaru, and is televised in North America on SpeedChannel. Time and date
listing information available at www.speedtv.com
