All is ready for todays start of the 2009 Quit Targa West rally. And Dean and co-driver Chris Murphy are looking for victory at the three-day tarmac rally, having posted the second quickest time during Thursday’s prologue.

Run around the Perth Motorplex (which normally hosts drag racing and sprint car events), the prologue determines the starting order for the rally.

“We’ve had a good day today”, Dean commented at the conclusion of prologue. “There were no problems at all and we posted the second quickest time. But it was a bit treacherous out there. It’s been raining here for most of the past week, so the course was wet. Once you got onto the drag strip part of the track, it was really slippery due to all the rubber on the road. A couple of competitors managed to bounce off the concrete walls. But the prologue only determines the starting order, so we were pretty careful”.

Quickest over the two passes of the prologue course was Steven Jones in a Nissan GTR, his times averaging just a second quicker than Dean, while veteran Tony Quinn will start third in another Nissan GTR.

Once again Maximum Motorsport will be well represented, with five entries for this years Targa West. Dean and Chris will lead the way in the #65 Subaru Impeza STi, while Graham Iddles returns in the #25 sister car. Paul Carrucan makes his debut in a Maximum entry, piloting the #97 Subaru. And just to make it a family affair, David Iddles (son of Graham) will drive the #71 STi, and Dean’s father Rob returns in the #64 Impreza that his used at Targa Tasmania.

The event proper kicks off at 9am (Perth time) with seven stages run in and around Kalamunda, just to the east of the Perth CBD.

Dean Herridge made a swine-flu-free return to Perth on Monday night, having spent much of last week quarantined in a Beijing hotel.

During the final leg of his journey to contest Rally Beijing with Subaru Rally Team China, Dean was seated a few rows behind a passenger who tested positive for swine flu. Chinese health officials have been taking no risks in their fight to stop the spread of the virus, and along with other passengers from the Hong Kong-Beijing flight, Dean was forced into quarantine for five days.

Luckily, Dean remained in good health throughout his five-day isolation. But it meant he missed Rally Beijing completely.

“I wasn’t released until late on Friday night, the final day of the rally. I didn’t even get to spectate!”, a healthy sounding Dean said after returning to Perth. “The team normally has dinner after each event, and they waited for me to arrive. So we all got to to catch-up, but it would have been better to have contested the event. And as luck would have it, my mum had flown over to watch me drive. Not only was I not in the rally, she was not allowed to see me because of the quarantine. We did get to spend a day sightseeing together, but it wasn’t really the week we’d planned!”

Luckily for Subaru Rally Team China, Simon Evans, who Dean has rallied against for many years in the Australian Rally Championship, was able to step into the lead Subaru at short notice. In Beijing to discuss future opportunities with various teams, Simon took the opportunity to show off his driving skills and completed Rally Beijing in a creditable 5th place. (David Higgins won the two-day tarmac rally, followed home by Jarkko Miettinen, Jussi Valimaki and Tony Green).

But while Rally Beijing didn’t go to plan, things are looking up for Dean with the Quit Targa West Rally. A change in dates for the third round of the Chinese series means Dean is now able to confirm his entry for the event. “I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve only started once in it; that was in 2006 when Peter Brock had his tragic accident and the rally was halted. For the last two years the scheduling with other events has meant I’ve missed it. But now the third round of the Chinese series has been pushed back, so we’re got a spare week and I’m really excited to be able to get back in the Maximum Motorsport Subaru, back in tarmac trim, and have a good crack at it. It certainly beats sitting in a hotel room!”

The Quit Targa West Rally begins on August 20, with four days of tarmac rallying near Dean’s home town of Perth. Final dates for Rally Fogang in Guangdong, the third round of the Chinese Rally Championship, have not yet been confirmed, but it is expected to run on the 29th-30th of August.

(Update: Tuesday 12pm) The potential dangers of international travel struck close to home this week. Flying from Hong Kong to Beijing last Friday, Dean Herridge had the misfortune to be seated three rows away from a passenger confirmed of being infected with H1N1 influenza virus.

Although Dean has not experienced any influenza symptoms, local health regulations have forced him be quarantined in his hotel room until Friday.

Speaking on her Facebook page, Dean’s wife Natalie revealed the news on Monday evening. “Dean is fine. He had the misfortune of sitting within three rows of someone with Swine flu on his flight to this weekends rally in China, and is now in a Beijing City hotel in quarantine. Hopefully he will be out in time on Friday to spectate the last day of the rally.”

And during a phone call earlier today (Tuesday), a very healthy sounding Dean confirmed his plight. “I’m feeling fine; just a little unlucky to be seated close to someone who has swine flu. We were hopeful on Monday that I would be given an exemption to compete in the rally, but the Chiense authorities are not taking any chances.”

“I’ve been moved into a hotel in Beijing that is being used to house around 200 or so foreigners who are in quarantine. I’m being tested twice a day by medical staff who are fully suited with masks and googles. They take it very seriously and it’s good they are doing so. It’s just disappointing I won’t be able to participate in the event. Plus it’s a little boring being couped up in a hotel room for most of the day!”

The mandatory quarantine means Dean will miss Rally Beijing with Subaru Rally Team China. Originally SRTC had hoped Eli Evans would step in as a late replacement. Eli last competed in China at the 2006 Rally China event, and regularly teams in the Australian Rally Championship with Dean’s SRTC co-driver Chris Murphy.

However problems issuing a visa at such short notice ruled Eli out of contention, and Simon Evans will now drive the lead SRTC Subaru Impreza. Simon had already planned to attend Rally Beijing as a spectator, and so is able to fill in for Dean. Chris Murphy, who arrived in China on a different flight, will co-drive for Simon and is currently preparing for the event, the opening stage scheduled for Thursday morning.

Photo of Simon and Sue Evans courtesy of rally.com.au

Rally Beijing, the second round of the Chinese Rally Championship, kicks off this week. And just before he flew out of Perth for the event, Dean managed to catch up with us to discuss the last round in Nanjing, and why there’ll be a camera crew following him around Beijing for the next week.

To hear the full interview, just click the ‘Play’ button.

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Rally Beijing, the second round of the Chinese Rally Championship, has been postponed. Originally scheduled to start on July 3, the event will now begin with a ceremonial start on Wednesday the 8th of July, with stages run on Thursday and Friday (the 9th and the 10th).

It’s a little unusual to see a rally event run during the week, but it does allow us time to catch up with Dean before he flies off to Beijing. There’ll be an audio interview available here on deanherridge.com at the end of next week. We’ll find out what happened at Rally Nanjing and even get the scoop on the TV crew that will be following him to Beijing.

A faulty intercom started a chain of events that ruined Dean Herridge’s chance of a podium at Rally Jiangning Nanjing.

Just five kms from the end of the second of Sunday’s four stages, Dean and co-driver Chris Murphy were holding 4th place and looking to close in on 3rd-placed Juha Salo. But a faulty intercom distracted the team, and while Chris was attempting to fix it, they crashed on a tightening right-hander.

“We were going well this morning”, commented Dean after returning to service park. “We were coming towards the end of the second stage this morning, and the intercom cut out after we hit a bump in the road. We kept going for another couple of kms while Chris was trying to fix it. But I got caught on a tight right-hander. We were just going too fast for the corner. I couldn’t slow the car down in time and we ended up in a slow roll”.

“We’re both OK, but obviously not the way we wanted to start the year”.

In the race for victory, Jussi Valimaki took a start-to-finish victory overcoming challenges from both David Higgins and Juha Salo for an all-Mitsubishi podium.

The SRTC crew will now have to quickly repair the car and regroup before the second round of the championship, Rally Beijing which begins in just two weeks time.

Final Result, Rally Jiangning Nanking:

1. Jussi Valimaki, 2:01:12.3
2. David Higgins, +36.3
3. Juha Salo, +48.9

(Photos from Rally Changbaishan, 2008).