Gallagher Wins Opening French Peugeot Round
Irish rally star, Shaun Gallagher, 23, has won the
opening round of the 2004 French Peugeot 206 Super
Cup. Gallagher, who finished 3rd in the championship
last year, battled through some of the roughest stages
he has ever driven on to come away with his maiden
victory in the French Cup.
Having worked with Skip Brown Cars in the British
Peugeot 206 Cup for the past two years Shaun decided
to have the car prepared by them for 2004 and as
always it arrived at the event perfectly set up and
reliability was second to none.
The Rally Terre d'Auvergne was a two-day, ten-stage
gravel event, run in the mountains around Issoire and
Clermont Ferrand. Despite spending the winter rallying
on snow, Shaun was instantly on the pace and was
settings top three fastest times from the beginning of
the event.
In tricky, rough conditions, with patches of snow on
the stages Shaun swapped times with Thierry Brun,
Oliver Moni and Arnaud Augoyard and finished the
opening day in fourth position, with just thirty
seconds separating the top five drivers.
The second day of the event was drier and the pace
increased even more. With that Shaun pulled back over
twenty seconds in just two stages and was now just one
position off the lead.
Fastest stage times on three of the days five stages
saw Shaun and co-driver Richard Pashley grab the lead
and extend their winning margin to forty seconds.
"I am absolutely over the moon, this is my first win
in France and to win the first round of the year is
even better. The team and car were top class and we
had no mechanical problems over the entire weekend"
commented Shaun.
Shaun's next event is the Rallye Terre d'Auxerrois on
the 1st and 2nd May.
-sgr-
