ITV F1 analyst Tony Jardine played a winning part as top class rallying re-discovered its roots with the difficult and challenging Roger Albert Clark Rally this week.
Partnered by Maurice Hamilton from
BBC Radio 5 Live, Jardine took a podium finish following four days of non-stop action over 220 stage miles.
The team finished first in class and 19th overall despite numerous set backs which summed up the challenge of the RAC Rallies of old.
On Monday morning, as Jardine and Hamilton came to the end of yet another punishing special stage this time in Twiglees forest in Southern Scotland, a rear shock absorber tore away from its mounting. They then suffered a second knock when a drive shaft failed in the afternoon. The stages were so demanding that by the eighth stage of the rally half of the field had been decimated. With the service team working miracles, Jardine and Hamilton were able to finish the third day at the top of their class in the standard showroom Skoda Fabia.
There were further dramas on the final day. Shortly after leaving the overnight halt Tuesday at 5:30am the media duo took a wrong turning in the dark and fog and became stuck in a ditch while trying to make a u-turn in a narrow country lane. Once again the service crew came to the rescue by towing the Skoda back onto the road.
"It was one of those things," said Jardine. "The road book instructions were not clear and we were in total darkness. If it hadn't been for the quick actions of our mechanics, who were following, we might still be stuck there! It was typical of the team effort evident this weekend."
Later in the day, there was another unplanned hitch when Hamilton accidentally set off the Skoda's on-board fire extinguisher.
![Tony Jardine [Pic credit: Jardine International]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/186468.jpg)
