Motor sport: Rhyl driver Hock’s joy at second

Dec 17 2008 by Dave Jones, Denbigh Visitor

RHYL and District Motor Club’s Andrew Hockridge was delighted after finishing second amongst the Citroen C2R2s’ in last weekend’s Wales Rally GB.

Hockridge and co-driver Rich Mills began the event still in with a chance of winning the championship but were deprived of their advantage at a river crossing on Friday afternoon when the engine ingested water and they lost nearly 15 minutes whilst they rectified the problem.

However, the adventures had begun even before then. Sub-zero temperatures in the days prior to the rally had left the roads covered in ice and organisers had no option but to cancel the first stage.

Such were the conditions that the Gino’s Pizza Cheese backed Citroen failed to make it to the start of the second stage and had to be towed up a hill by a Landrover, incurring penalties before the day had even begun.

With the rally counting as two rounds of the British Championship, Hockridge returned to Swansea at the end of day one thinking his title hopes were already destroyed, but discovered he had finished the day in second position, picking up some very useful points.

The second morning dawned just as icy and the Geoff Jones Motorsport run C2R2 made it through the majority of the day without any major dramas but a patch of black ice on the last forest stage saw the GRH Foods supported car slide into a ditch, costing them more time.

Day three was all about surviving and with the conditions as tricky as ever Hockridge really had to keep his wits about him, but a relatively untroubled run saw the pair return to Cardiff for the ceremonial finish, having survived snow, ice and blinding sunlight to take second overall.