Again on tarmac, Rowland was thrown in at the deep end. Not only was it his first event outside of the UK, it was his first event in the WY Mitsubishi Evo 9 and only his third ever international classed event.
After a few days to get over the jetlag and the 34 degrees temperature, Rowland, Sturla and the other 70 competing crews got their heads down to prepare for the event. After a successful recce and ceremonial start, the event began on Saturday morning and finished on Sunday afternoon.
Rowland had a solid start to the event, with his times getting better and better as the rally went on. With no pressure other than to learn as much as he could, the MSA Rally Academy member found himself in a battle for eleventh overall as day two came to a close. With a 6 second advantage over 13th placed driver and team boss, FanFan, Rowland pushed hard through the final 15km. At the half way point Rowland had gained another 3 seconds but unfortunately lost his advantage soon after when the youngster overshot an acute hairpin and was forced into a 3-point turn to get back on track. Rowland ended up losing his 12th place by just over 1 second.
Despite this the teenager was happy with his experience: "I have learnt so much from my first visit to China. I am happy with my result and it's a nice solid foundation to build on," he continued.
"I have learnt many important things about working in a large team and as usual I have picked up so many things from David, Ieuan and my co-driver Tim. The visit was made much easier by having such a warm welcome from everyone at the WY Rally team."
