With temperatures creeping into the 30s, it’s been a long hot day for the crews competing at Rally Jiangning Nanjing. And after initially jumping into third place, after the first loop of three stages this morning, Dean and SRTC Subaru dropped both time and a position during the afternoon, as the mercury began to climb.

“We’ve really been struggling with our tyres as the temperature has been getting higher. The car has been good, but we lost time this afternoon trying to conserve our tyres”, said Dean after completing the final Saturday stage.

But while the heat effected Dean’s tyres, it also had an impact on Juha Salo. Even though he was able to push past Dean during the afternoon stages, the Finn was badly dehydrated by the time he returned to service park, and was immediately placed on a drip by medical staff.

And Kiwi Tony Green had a miserable start to his season, rolling his brand-new Subaru out of the rally on the first morning. Hitting a bank on stage three, the impact damaged the suspension of the Prodrive Impreza. But to add insult to injury, the car then rolled as he and co-driver John Allen tried to drive it back onto the road.

At the head of the field 2005 APRC champion Jussi Valimaki has been unstoppable in the Hongyun Honghe Mitsubishi. The Finn last competed in China three years ago but has lead from the first stage, and will start the final day with a 47 second advantage over Englishman David Higgins.

Tomorrow Rally Jiangning Nanjingconcludes with a further two loops of two stages, with final results here at deanherridge.com.

Rally Jiangning Nanjing, after Stage 7:

1. Jussi Valimaki, 1:07:52.5
2. David Higgins, +47.2
3. Juha Salo, +1:40.7
4. Dean Herridge, +1:55.7
5. Liu Cao Dong, +2:44.8

(Photos from Rally Shaowu, 2008).

The Chinese Rally Championship has kicked off in the city of Nanjing tonight.

A late replacement for Rally Shanghai, Nanjing city is 300 kms to the west of Shanghai and features five gravel stages, run multiple times during Saturday and Sunday.

The season opened tonight with a Super Special stage in front of an enthusiastic crowd, with Dean and his co-driver Chris Murphy piloting the Subaru Rally Team China Impreza. With two full days of rallying ahead of them, Dean took a conservative approach to the short course, setting the 5th fastest time and only 3.2 seconds off the stage winning time of former APRC competitor Jussi Valimaki.

Along with Valimaki, 2009 has also seen the return of other international competitors, including Juha Salo and David Higgins. Plus Kiwi Tony Green returns with the FCACA team, piloting a brand-new, Prodrive-built, 2009-spec Subaru Impreza.

Tomorrow the event begins in earnest with the crews attacking three gravel stages, run three times each. And we’ll have coverage and news of the event, here at deanherridge.com.

Rally Jiangning Nanjing, After Stage 1:

1. Jussi Valimaki, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, 41.1 sec
2. Liu Cao Dong, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, +1.4 sec
= David Higgins, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +1.4 sec
4. Juha Salo, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, +2.6 sec
5. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +3.4 sec
11. Tony Green, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +4.5 sec

Photo courtesy of www.jussivalimaki.com

Having completed four events in Australia so far this year, Dean Herridge now turns his attention to Chinese Rally Championship and his third season as lead driver for Subaru Rally Team China.

2008 was a breakthrough season. Not only did SRTC develop and introduce a brand-new Subaru Impreza STi, Dean and co-driver Chris Murphy took it to victory at November’s Rally China, the maiden win for the Schenzen-based team.

This year the Dean and Chris return another full season, taking with them Kiwi Ben Jones who will work with the SRTC mechanics to engineer the car.

The Chinese rally calendar has had a late change, with Rally Jiangning replacing Rally Shanghai as the first event of the season. But preparation on the SRTC cars is already well underway, Dean completing his most recent development test at a kart track near Shenzen in mid-April.

“We had a really good test in April”, Dean commented. “The main objective was to work on tarmac setups for rallies Shanghai and Beijing, and we also tried a few new ideas with the car setup. Now Rally Jiangning is the first event, which is a gravel rally. We were scheduled to do some gravel testing, but unfortunately we were rained out!”

“We did four gravel events in this car last year, so we already have some good data from those rallies. Plus, world-wide, the Subaru Group-N teams work closely with STi in Japan and George Donaldson in Europe, sharing information on how to get the best out of the cars”.

The April test also marked the first appearance of the team’s new livery. For many years, Subaru factory teams have been instantly recognisable, all over the world, due to the distinctive yellow ‘S’ on the blue Imprezas. In 2008 the Subaru WRC team introduced a new colour scheme with a prominent Subaru logo, and the SRTC cars will feature a similar livery for the 2009 season.

Dean’s first 2009 event for Subaru Rally Team China is Rally Jiangning, which begins on the 12th of June.

Chinese Rally Championship 2009
Rally Jiangning in Jiangsu – 12th June
Rally Beijing in Huairou – 3rd July
Rally Fogang in Guangdong – 14th August
Rally Shaowu in Fujian – 18th September
China Rally – 13th November

It’s been a week of changing fortunes, but Dean Herridge, Glen Weston and the Maximum Motorsports Subaru Impreza have completed Targa Tasmania 2009 in 6th place.

Putting aside the disappointment of yesterdays tyre penalty, Dean set a series of top-five stages times to climb past the Porsche 911 of Matt Close and claim 5th place claim 6th place in the Modern category. (5th May Update: After stopping at the scene of Kevin Weeks’ crash, Dean was given a derived time for TS36, meaning he finished two seconds behind Matt Close). Although the pre-race gamble on medium compound tyres didn’t work out (thanks to drier than expected conditions), the result was a typically professional one, Dean and Glen working to ensure the #993 Subaru Impreza made to the finish line in Hobart.

The other three Maximum Motorsport entries also completed Targa ’09; the father/son pairing of Graham and Cameron Furness in 24th, Graham Iddles and Paul Hopwood in 36th, while Rob Herridge and Anthony Chudleigh recovered from their day 4 ‘off’ to claim 43rd place.

Dean’s attentions now turn the Chinese Rally Championship and Rally Shanghai, the first of two tarmac events on the CRC calendar, which begins at the end of May.

Final Results – Modern Category
1. Quinn / Tillett, Nissan GTR, +10:35
2. White / White, Lamborghini Gallardo, +16:33
3. Vandenberg / Vandenberg, Lancer Evo IX, +16:46
4. Quinn / Feaver, Lancer Evo IX, +17:03
5. Close / Reeves, Porsche 911 Turbo, +18:52
6. D Herridge / Weston, Subaru Impreza STi, +18:54
24. Furness / Furness, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +40:06
36. Iddles / Hopwood, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +59:49
43. R Herridge / Chudleigh, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +5:25:21

Photos courtesy of Targa Tasmania.

The rain finally arrived, but it was too little too late. The drier than expected roads finally caught up with Dean Herridge’s medium compound tyres during Saturday’s Cethana stage, he and co-drive Glen Weston forced to change two tyres and take a four minute penalty.

The tyre change and ensuing penalty have dropped the #993 Maximum Motorsports Subaru to 7th and more than seven minutes off the leader Kevin Weeks. Ironically, after doing their best to conserve their tyres for the previous three days, the rain finally arrived in the afternoon for the final four stages.

Also experiencing problems on day 4 was Dean’s father Rob. A first-timer to Targa, Rob had made an impressive debut and was sitting in 19th after Saturday’s second stage. But an off on the Hellyer Gorge stage brought his chances of a better result to an end. The car was too far off the road for him to drive out. Although he was able to continue after being towed them out, the time lost saw him drop to 44th in the Modern category.

Meanwhile the other Maximum Motorsport entries of Graham Furness and Graham Iddles continue to put in solid stage times, sitting 24th and 39th respectively.

Today field makes a final dash towards Hobart. There are five stages on the journey from Strahan and Hobart, including the 47km Mount Arrowsmith stage, and the 2pm podium finish at Hobart’s Wrest Point.

Results – After Day 4
1. Weeks / Crunkhorn, Lamborghini Gallardo, +08:22
2. Quinn / Tillett, Nissan GTR, +08:30
3. White / White, Lamborghini Gallardo, +10:06
5. Vandenberg / Vandenberg, Lancer Evo IX, +13:51
7. Herridge / Weston, Subaru Impreza STi, +15:55
24. Furness / Furness, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +30:33
39. Iddles / Hopwood, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +44:30
44. R Herridge / Chudleigh, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +04:35:19

Photos courtesy of Targa Tasmania.

Leg 3 of Targa Tasmania has seen a day of mixed fortunes for Dean Herridge and Glen Weston in the #993 Subaru Impreza.

Overnight the Maximum Motorsport mechanics put in an incredible effort to rebuild the Subaru’s engine in time for the Friday mornings start, the team replacing the pistons and rings due to a suspected piston failure during Thursdays stages. “It’s as good as new”, Dean confirmed after he completed the final stage of the day. “There’s been no problems with the engine at all today; the guys did a fantastic job”.

But while the engine is back in working order, the condition of Dean’s tyres is still a concern. His pre-race gamble on medium compound tyres was based on the forecast of rain. And so far that rain has failed to eventuate. “We’ve compromised our speed a little bit at times, trying to drive the car straight and preserve the tyres. Any rain will help. The roads were greasy this morning, and it’s been patchy in places this afternoon, which may have caught out some of the other crews”.

And it was retirements, not the weather conditions, that have elevated Dean up 4th place today, with eight-time champion Jim Richards and Nissan driver Steven Jones both forced to retire due to accidents.

Tomorrow the Targa field leaves Launceston for the final time, travelling first to Penguin on Tasmania’s northern coast, then swinging south for Strachan (and hopefully some rain) on the mid-west coast, including seven competitive stages.

Results – After Day 3
1. Weeks / Crunkhorn, Lamborghini Gallardo, +04:24
2. White / White, Lamborghini Gallardo, +04:27
3. Quinn / Tillett, Nissan GTR, +04:28
4. D Herridge / Weston, Subaru Impreza STi, +06:08
5. Close / Reeves, Porsche 911 Turbo, +06:32
16. R Herridge / Chudleigh, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +11:46
29. Furness / Furness, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +17:00
44. Iddles / Hopwood, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +23:30

Photos from Targa Wrest Point courtesy of Optical Note Productions.