Lancashire rallyman Dan Boardman had the best result of his career at the weekend in the three-day International Rally Isle of Man winning his class again by a staggering 12 minutes.
Boardman stormed up the rankings throughout the event finishing 29th overall in the lowest powered class, N1, in his Suzuki Swift 1300 GTi. This was Boardman's second visit to the Island and second consecutive class win - he won the N1 class in May on his Manx debut.
Boardman's priority from the off was to finish the event and the first two stages claimed two top drivers and were cancelled so the cars could be recovered. As such his first stage was the famous night spectator stage that ran through the centre of Castletown and which included Jeremy Clarkson amongst the crowds at the roadside. The crew set a blistering time beating much higher placed cars and went back to the service area for a simple spanner check and then the cars were put in parc-ferme for the evening with a 55 second lead in class.
The second day saw three more cancelled stages as top competitors came off the road. The conditions were changeable in the morning and the crew drove on wet tarmac for the first time, made even more difficult by opting for a slick tyre!
"It was very interesting driving on slicks in the wet but it was a good experience and I enjoyed learning how to cope. That is what a rally is about, driving to the conditions and the car set up that you have," he noted.
The afternoon dried up and thanks to the new Handkook tyres Boardman increased his lead to 5 minutes. By now he was also leading the next class above 1600cc, (N2) and lying second in the 2.0ltr class (N3) and he was determined to keep pushing to beat the 2.0ltr class leader. So far the car's only damage was to the sumpguard bolts, which was caused by a huge jump, referred to as a "car breaker" in the co-drivers pace notes, near Peel. Boardman took the jump flat out which kicked the back of the Suzuki high in the air, landing on the nose of the car and bending the sump guard bolts right back.
