Natalie retires from Rally Catalunya.

Natalie Barratt's 2004 JWRC season came to a premature end when she was forced to retire on SS6 of the opening leg of Rally Catalunya.

Not having driven on Tarmac for well over two years, Natalie made an understandably cautious start to the rally as rain showers made the opening three stages of leg one treacherously slippery and tyre choice critical.

Safely through SS3 without any problems, Natalie was in an upbeat mood heading into the second service of the day as she began to feel more comfortable on the challenging Spanish tarmac stages.

Leaving service and halfway through SS4, the re-run of SS1, Natalie noticed the battery light of her Renault Clio had come on. Finishing the stage she and co-driver Carl Williamson stopped on the road section to locate the problem and found that the alternator belt had started to fray. With no time to sort the problem due to such a short road section they decided to replace it after completing SS5. After SS5 the belt had come off completely so they stopped to fit the spare dropping eleven minutes in the process.

Thinking the problem was now sorted they started SS6, the final stage of the day but were forced to stop half way through as the belt had come off again and the battery had lost all power putting them into retirement. On further inspection it was discovered that a cracked engine mount was the cause of the belt continually coming off.

"I made a really steady start to the rally as I haven't driven on Tarmac for well over two years so it's taken a bit of getting used to especially as I only had chance to carry out a small Tarmac test prior to the start of the rally," Natalie said. "I was really hoping it would be dry today as it's so slippery here when it's wet but it rained on and off throughout the first three stages at which point my confidence was low as we had chosen slick tyres.

"However, I was determined to enjoy my last rally of the season and was feeling much more confident on stage four but a flashing battery light soon put a dampener on my rally which was to be short lived. I was really hoping to end the season on a high but some things aren't meant to be."