Eurosport
The Race2Recovery Team, comprised of injured British servicemen, has completed a major hurdle in its efforts to contest next year’s Dakar by bringing a two-car team to the finish of the Tuareg Rally.
The event finished in Spain last night after racing through Morocco for eight days. The two R2R Qt Wildcats were 10th and 25th overall, with both cars having registered a fastest time – and rolled during the event. This was the first time the crews, Dave Marsh/Tom Neathway and Tony Harris/Ben Gott had competed abroad.
Harris, R2R founder and driver, said: “Words just can’t express how I feel right now. Our first major goal was to compete in and finish our first international event with two cars and we’ve done it. The experience we’ve gained along the way has been first-rate. Every day was different and meant that we needed to adopt and develop new skills.
“We have a long way to go but we have identified our weaknesses now and where we need to develop more. With Pierre De Frenne on board as team principal and working with Pav Taylor, the team manager, it’s going to be amazing. The team will run in a military way, which is how the professional teams work and we’re already looking forward to that.
“Now we need to look at our next goal and if we want to do the Silkway Rally, we need to make sure we have the right sponsorship in place to do it. But I think we’ve shown on this event that this team has every capability of doing it. Sure, we had a few mechanical issues – the engine misfire dropped us a few places but on the stages where the car was running perfectly, it went really well. We won a stage yesterday – my first international rally stage win – and I’m very happy with that.”
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