Beginning the final day of Rally Shaowu behind Finns Juha Salo and Jarkko Miettinen, Herridge was looking to bring the Subaru Rally Team China car home for what would have been its third podium in-a-row. But damage sustained on the forth stage of the day led to a small fire under the car, forcing him to retire.

Speaking from the Shaowu service park, Dean explained, “We completed the first pass of the two stages this morning with no problems. Juha and Jarkko had pulled away in the morning, so we made some changes at service which improved the feeling (of the car) when we repeated the stages”.

“However 2km from the end of the SS4 we hit a big hole on the inside of a fast right-hander. It hit hard enough to break the lower control arm and, in the process, snapped the top of the suspension, the steering arm and then pulled the driveshaft from the gearbox. Fortunately we were able to just get around the next corner despite the wheel hanging out near my door!”

Limping to the end of the stage, Dean lost more than a minute to the leaders, and with it third place. But worse was to come.

“After leaving time control I checked the damage and reported it to the team, who asked if we could try and drive the car the 10km back to the service park. We made it most of the way, but 2km from service park the dragging tyre caught fire. We stopped to extinguish the fire and save the car from further damage. By the time we had it sorted it was too late to get back to service park to continue”.

“Luckily, and by chance, we’d stopped in front of the local fire department. Which was handy because the tyre continued to reignite for some time!”

Although the final day of the season didn’t go to plan, 2008 has been a banner year for Subaru Rally Team China thanks to the maiden CRC victory claimed by Dean and co-driver Chris Murphy at the previous round in Longyou.

Starting the 2008 Chinese season in a brand new 2008 model Subaru Impreza, Herridge and his SRTC crew worked hard throughout the year to develop the car, combining knowledge gleaned from international Subaru Group-N teams with the experience they’ve gained during five tough rounds of the CRC.

A promising fourth place in Shanghai back in May was tempered by an engine failure at Rally Mohe. But since then, the team has been making strong progress in the championship, Dean and Chris claiming second at Changbai Mountain and victory at China Rally in Longyou.

“Obviously today has been a disappointing way to end the year”, Dean explained. “But we have so many positives to take away from this season. The team and I are very happy with the results we’ve managed to achieve in 2008″.

Rally Shaowu was not only tough for Dean, but also for Juha Salo. Having lead for the majority of the rally, the Finn rolled his Mitsubishi on the final stage, handing victory to his countryman Miettinen.

Rally Shaowu Final Results:

Jarkko Miettinen 2:00:23.9
Tony Green +1:27.9
Cao Liu Dong +5:41.9
Xu Jun +7:52.1
Li Wei +7:58.3
Fan Fan +8:21.0

Photos courtesy of www.srtc.cn and Dean Herridge.

While Finns Jarkko Miettinen and Juha Salo fought for the lead during 80kms of leg 1 stages, Herridge maintained third place ahead of Kiwi Tony Green. “It’s been quite a difficult day. The stages have been a mixture of twisty sections linked by very fast sections, and the roads quite hard-packed and bumpy”, Herridge commented after returning to service park.

The rally is final round of both the Chinese Rally Championship and the IRC, and is a completely new event for both series. And with a field of more than 30 cars, the opportunity to see some of the worlds best production rally crews drew an estimated 20,000 spectators to Fridays opening super special stage.

In fact the spectators were so keen to see the rally action, not even the cold morning temperatures kept them away from Saturdays forest stages, the cars competing on roads around the World Heritage listed Wuji Mountains.

“It was very cold this morning, and in some shaded areas in the mountain section there were still ice patches on the ground”, said Herridge. “We had quite a good run on the first stage; second quickest and just two-tenths behind Salo. But on the next we had a big moment at a forth gear tightening left-hander. I think most the top teams had the same problem, and that corner eventually claimed three of the local competitors. Later on that stage we under-steered off on the ice. We managed to reverse back onto the road, but lost some time”.

With two stages being used three times during the leg, the roads began to cut-up with each passing car. “On the second pass of the stages we struggled a little with car set-up. Our tyre choice probably wasn’t great and I just wasn’t confident with the handling of the car”.

“But we made some changes before the third pass, which made the Impreza much nicer to drive. I was lot happier and more confident”, Dean remarked.

So with another 70kms to contest on Sunday, does Dean think he can move another step up the podium? “Salo has been very quick and I think he will only be caught if he has problems. But Jarkko is only 18 seconds in front of us, so he is the target for tomorrow. But we also need to be careful of Tony Green, and make sure he stays behind”.

Behind the top four, the gaps are beginning to widen between the large field of Chinese drivers. After his main rival for the Chinese title crashed out, Cao Liu Dong was able to back-off during the afternoon stages. Making the finish line on Sunday afternoon will secure him the CRC title.

Sunday holds another two stages, run three times during the day. “The first one has been cut in half to just over 11kms. We recced the original 20km stage, but final 5km was a narrow concrete section and it was just too dangerous to compete on. Overall the Sunday roads are a little looser and dustier on top, and definitely twister than today”.

Results (After Leg 1):

Juha Salo 56:13.5
Jarkko Miettinen +36.1
Dean Herridge +54.5
Tony Green +1:08.4
Cao Liu Dong +2:47.5
Xu Jun +4:33.2
Fan Fan +5:09.2
Li Wei +5:14.6

Photos courtesy of www.sports.cn, www.fasc.org.cn and www.srtc.cn.

In front of 20,000 local fans, the final round of the Chinese Rally Championship kicked off with a short Super Special stage, the 2.5km twin track allowing spectators to see the cars compete head-to-head. Dean and Chris had a trouble free run in the SRTC Subaru even though, as first car on stage, they were sweeping loose gravel off the top of the track.

Tomorrow the rally gets under way with two short 15km and 12km forest stages that will be repeated two more times in the afternoon. And with 33 crews scheduled to start the leg, the surface of those forest roads is expected to deteriorate with each passing car.

Results (After Stage 1)

Jarkko Miettinen 2:15.7
Juha Salo +0.2
Dean Herridge +1.3
Tony Green +1.7
Cao Liu Dong +3.1
Hui Hongjie +4.6
Hua Quinxian +4.8
Fan Fan +5.5

Photos courtesy of www.srtc.cn and www.fasc.org.cn.

Having celebrated their maiden CRC victory at China Rally last month, Dean Herridge and SRTC are confident of another good result at Shaowu.

“The team and I are obviously very happy and motivated by our success in Longyou”, Dean commented after arriving at the Shaowu service park. “This rally is once again new to the championship, so there are plenty of unknowns. The new car has come along way this season and I am really looking forward to the event and trying to finish the season off on a high”.

Using the forestry roads that run near Wuyi Mountain, competitors will be faced with 190kms of tough competitive stages. But conditons may be made even more difficult than normal. As is usual for CRC events, each leg will feature three runs over a limited number of stages, in this case two stages on Saturday and two on Sunday.

But the size of the field will be larger than normal. The rally is also the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC), and that means Dean and the other CRC competitors will be driving on roads already used by the Super 2000 and R3-spec cars of the IRC competitors.

“It will be an interesting dynamic to be running behind the IRC cars”, said Herridge. “However it will not be so different to what we have experienced in the APRC and CRC before. It will mainly depend on the road surface and condition to how difficult the second and third passes of the stages will become. So until we see the stages for the first time on recce, this is an unknown quantity. However it will be great to have some of the leading European rally cars competing in China”.

Rally Shaowu kicks off on Friday evening with a Super Special stage, followed by forestry stages on Saturday and Sunday.

Make sure you check back here at www.deanherridge.com for news and results as they come to hand.

Photo courtesy of www.srtc.cn, zzchen and emmoslovesteas

With the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship joining the Chinese regulars for Rally China, Herridge and SRTC stepped up the pace, claiming the team’s first victory in the Chinese domestic championship and the first APRC for podium for the 2008 Subaru Impreza STI.

“It’s an awesome result for the team at what is the biggest rally on the Chinese calendar. Subaru Rally Team China have been working hard to achieve this victory for the last four years. So to do it at just the new car’s fourth outing, at this particular event, in front of hundreds of Subaru fans, and to beat guys like Juha Salo and David Higgins who run well-sorted and proven packages, it’s just incredible. I’m really proud to be part of this team and to achieve this victory for them”, a delighted Herridge exclaimed after the podium presentation.

“The ‘icing on the cake’ is we also finished third among the APRC competitors, the first time a 2008 Impreza has scored an Asia-Pacific podium. For our team to do this, it’s a great tick of approval for everyone in the STRC team”.

But the result didn’t come easily. Held near the city of Longyou, Rally China once again proved to be a tough test for all the competitors. Rain during the days leading into the event made the roads extremely slippery, the situation compounded by some stages being run three times.

And although Dean completed Friday’s Super Special stage just behind ex-Cusco team mate Hiroshi Yanagisawa and series champion Cody Crocker, Saturday proved to be a tougher test.

“We were pretty happy with most of Saturday’s stages. Obviously it was very slippery, but we were on the pace of the APRC guys, and well ahead of Salo and the other Chinese competitors. But in the two middle stages we broke a front diff, so we were running in 2WD for nearly 34km. I think we lost around three minutes on stage, and then we ran overtime at the next service and received a 50 second penalty.”

By the end of Saturday’s stages Dean and Chris were placed second among the Chinese competitors, Salo ahead by just eight seconds after he suffered a series of punctures, and seven seconds behind the third placed APRC competitor Yuya Sumiyama. But with the roads drying out for Sunday’s stages, and his car fully serviced, Dean moved past both Salo and Sumiyama to capture a CRC victory and third in the APRC.

“It was a real battle of attrition. So for this car to claim first place, after the problems we had on Saturday and still have plenty of pace on Sunday, it’s just a great testament to commitment and professionalism of Subaru Rally Team China. I’m really happy for for them!”.

Rally China marks the final round of the 2008 APRC season, Dean securing fourth place in the championship even though he competed in just five rounds of the seven round series. But the Chinese championship has one round left to complete the season, Rally Shaowu which begins in the first week of December.

Asia-Pacific Rally Championship – Round 7 – China Rally – Unofficial Results:

1. Cody CROCKER (AUS), Motor Image Rally Team, 3:23:54.7
2. Hiroshi YANAGISAWA (JP), Cusco Racing, 3:23:55.9
3. Dean HERRIDGE (AUS), Subaru Rally Team China, 3:28:29.6
4. Takuma KAMADA (JP), Subaru Team Arai, 3:31:49.8
5. Yuya SUMIYAMA (JP), Cusco Racing, 3:32:45.8

Chinese Rally Championship – Round 4 – China Rally – Unofficial Results:

1. Dean HERRIDGE (AUS), Subaru Rally Team China, 3:28:29.6
2. Juha SALO (FIN), Gui Zhou Bai Ling Team, 3:31:58.0
3. LIU Caodong (CN), Gui Zhou Bai Ling Team, 3:33:14.1
4. FAN Fan (CN), Soueast-Motor Wan Yu, 3:44:17.8
5. LI Wei (CN), Subaru Rally Team China, 3:48:09.4

Photos courtesy of Linear Photographs.

With the MRF Lancers having completed their 6 of 7 rounds of the APRC, Brian Green will be the only APRC regular flying the Mitsubishi flag. So there’s plenty of interest to see if Deans’ brand-new 2008 Subaru Rally Team China GBR Impreza can match (or beat) the well-sorted 2007 models driven by Cody Crocker and Hiroshi Yanagisawa.

In this interview, we catch up with Dean to find out how he sees his chances in Longyou, and why a couple of weeks ago he was flying around in helicopters at Rally Malaysia. To hear the full interview, just click the ‘Play’ button.

The third round of the Chinese national rally series, Changbai Mountain was contested over roads near the North Korean border in China’s north-east. And the rally held plenty of drama for spectators and competitors right from the first forest stage.

After completing Friday’s Super Special stage in 3rd, Herridge and co-driver Chris Murphy moved up to second place when early leader Fumio Nutahara punctured, setting a trend that the rest of the field would follow. Along with Nutahara, Juha Salo, Liu Dong Cao, Tony Green, and Dean all collected punctures during Saturday’s stages.

“It’s been a really tricky and demanding day”, Dean commented after the completion of the Saturday’s six stages. “The roads are narrow but very high speed. The two 30km stages we ran today (used three times during the leg), averaged 130 km/h and 110 km/h.”

By the end of leg 1, Juha Salo lead the field, with Herridge and Wei Hongjie holding the podium places. But with large gaps between them, and only 60km of stages to run on Sunday, there was nothing to be gained by pushing too hard, and the top three maintained their positions to complete the event.

That meant Herridge not only scored his first Chinese podium of the year, but also the first podium for the new SRTC 2008-spec Impreza GRB.

“It’s the first podium for the new car, and I think the team was a bit nervous to make sure we scored a good result. Really, it’s our first true hit-out on gravel, so we’ve learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the car.”

“Sunday was only a quarter of the distance of the entire rally, but the roads were really tricky; narrow and very bumpy. I think nearly 40% of the field were forced to retire, so we made sure we made it to the finish.”

And SRTC team boss Jiang Chen had nothing but glowing words for his #1 driver. “I think Dean is a very good driver. His state of mind is very good, and his control and rhythm allows him to obtain these results.”

After two back-to-back rounds, the CRC now takes a five week break, with Rally China starting in Longyou in the first week of November. Longyou also hosts China’s round of the APRC, and Dean is keen to pit his Subaru GRB against the leading APRC crews. “Longyou should suit us more than the last two rounds. I think we’ll be very competitive.”

Changbai Mountain – Unofficial Results

Juha Salo 1:57:20.0
Dean Herridge 2:00:20.0
Wei Hongjie 2:01:20.4
Fan Fan 2:06:18.2
Tony Green 2:08:45.5

Photos courtesy of www.srtc.cn and www.autosports.org.cn

After completing Friday’s Super Special stage in 3rd place, Dean Herridge and Chris Murphy (running the Subaru Rally Team China Impreza GRB), moved in to second place when early leader Fumio Nutahara punctured, setting a trend that the rest of the field would follow.

“It’s been a really tricky and demanding day”, Dean commented after the completion of the Saturday’s six stages. “The roads are twisty and narrow, but very high speed. The two 30km stages we ran today (used three times during the leg), averaged 130 km/h and 110 km/h.”

And the rocks which littered the edge of the road claimed more than their fair share of victims, with Juha Salo, Liu Dong Cao, Tony Green, Nutahara, and Dean all collecting punctures during the stages.

“Our tyres are probably too soft. We punctured half-way into the third stage, but we decided to press on. We lost a minute and a half to Salo, but we would have lost more if we’d stopped to change it. Then we picked up some rear suspension damage on the next stage, and we lost a bit more time”.

“But it’s the first real hit-out for the new car on gravel, and we’re keeping pace with Salo. It would be nice to be closer, but we’re pretty happy with the results so far”.

Sunday’s stages are made up of two passes of a 20km and a 10km test. But these look to be even trickier and much slower. “We just need to be careful on these shorter stages. We’re looking good for second, but if Juha has a problem I want to make sure I can capitalise on it.”

Changbai Mountain – Unofficial Leg 1 Results

Juha Salo 1:25:13.5
Dean Herridge 1:27:50.4
Wei Hongjie 1:28:42.8
Fumio Nutahara 1:29:47.5
Brian Green 1:31:51.7

Photos courtesy of www.srtc.cn

The event kicked off with a Super Special stage, run over a course constructed on a local soccer field, to the cheers of an enthusiastic crowd.

With series leader David Higgins missing this round, his replacement Fumio Nutahara made good use of his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO to post the fastest time, closely followed by Finn Juha Salo, and then Dean who could have taken an early lead if not for a final corner puncture.

“We could well have been the quickest of the lot. But the course cut-up pretty early and we sort of fell into a hole on the final corner. We all had to run on road tyres for this particular stage, and the tyre just rolled off the rim. So we limped over the finish line”, Dean explained after completing the stage.

Although Changbai Mountain is renowned for it’s scenic beauty, the rally won’t be using too many of its twisty mountain passes. Instead the stages will run over generally flat gravel roads at the base of the mountain, and are set the challenge the entire field.

“The roads have a mixture of everything really…high speed but very bumpy. It’s kind of like a mixture of some stages from Canberra, some from Queensland and some from WA. Tomorrow we’ve got three passes of two 30km stages, so it’s going to be a long, challenging day.”

Changbai Mountain – Unofficial Top 5 Results After Stage 1

Fumio Nutahara 1:06.0
Juha Salo 1:11.9
Dean Herridge 1:12.7
Tony Green 1:13.6
Liu Dong Cao 1:14.0
Fan Fan 1:14.0
Brian Green 1:14.9

And just like Mohe, Changbai Mountain will be a completely new event for Dean and SRTC.

“At this stage I have no idea what to expect from this rally! I haven’t see or heard too much about the roads. I believe the area is quite mountainous so I am guessing there is a chance of some twisty roads cut into the hills and mountains. We will have to wait and see”, Dean commented before returning to China.

After a busy week of PR duties in Australia, Dean flies back to China this week for what will be an important event for him and SRTC. An encouraging start to the season in June was followed by the disappointment of an engine failure at Rally Mohe.

Mohe and Changbai Mountain, both based in the far north of China, were always going to be a challenge for SRTC, which is headquartered 2500kms to the south, in Shenzen. The back-to-back rounds have meant some of the team mechanics and support crew have been away from their homes since the start of September. And the engine problems Dean experienced in Mohe have only complicated matters, forcing to the team to rebuild the GRB engine away from home base.

“At this stage not sure on what engine we’ll have for the event. I know they are rebuilding the Mohe engine but I’m not sure if we’ll use it or have a replacement engine for Changbai. But the team has investigated the problems we experienced in Mohe, and I don’t expect any issues at this round.”

“The boys transported from Mohe directly to this event, and have been preparing the car at both venues and on the road. By the time they return to Shenzhen, some of the crew and logistics staff will have been away for 5–6 weeks!”.

“It’s been a big effort by them, and I want to repay them for all the commitment they’ve put in. So I’m really looking forward to this event and locking away a good result.”

Changbai Mountain kicks off with a super special stage on Friday, followed by two days of rallying over what are expected to be wide and twisty gravel roads. And of course, we’ll have results and news, as it comes to hand, here on deanherridge.com.

Photos courtesy of deanherridge.com and Gongfu King.