Mason just misses spot on the podium

New Zealand Rally Champion Richard Mason narrowly missed out on third place in the opening round of the Chinese National Rally Championship - run near Shanghai on March 24th ? 26th - when the front suspension on his GT TIRES RALLY TEAM Subaru Impreza failed just one stage from the finish.
"We said before we went [to China] that the conditions over there are so different to here [New Zealand] and we couldn't wait to take on the challenges that lay ahead, but the roads at Shanghai were unbelievably rough, definitely the toughest I have ever competed on. So even though we drove very carefully, and for us conservatively, a bolt on the left front bottom arm stripped and as it disappeared so did our chances of a podium finish. Most of the roads were barely more than the width of the car and the jumps were huge ? we were at least 2 metres up on more than one occasion."
Mason and co-driver Sara Randall had another surprise/challenge on arrival when they found their car was in fact left-hand drive, so fourth place after the six stage Day One ? including a string of top 6 stage times ? just over 70 seconds behind the leader - former WRC works driver Alister McRae - was more than satisfactory.
Having a better feel for the car and the conditions ? which repeatedly used the same two pieces of road as Leg One, but in the reverse direction ? Day Two saw Richard and Sara increase their pace, and pressure on their rivals, as they closed in on third place.
By the end of the second stage they were third ? by half a second ? and almost half a minute ahead of leading Japanese driver Kamada who ultimately took the final podium position behind winner McRae and the top Chinese in second.
In fact, when forced to retire at the end of stage 9, Richard was second fastest for Leg Two, bettered only by former American and British Champion David Higgins.
"In spite of the frustration of not finishing, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Shanghai and know that with access to the FIA Fuel [that the other front runners were using at Shanghai], we can be serious contenders for the rest of the series."
The next round of the 2006 CRC (China Rally Championship) is the Guizhou Rally (the event Richard and Sara did last year) in Western Central China over the weekend of July 22nd and 23rd.