After a long mid-season break, Dean Herridge returns to China this weekend for the fourth round of the Chinese Rally Championship. Rally China, based around Longyou, is also the final round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship. And that means Dean will be battling against former APRC rivals, including Motor Image Subaru driver Cody Crocker and Katsu Taguchi and Gaurav Gill in the MRF Lancers.

Even though the competition is tougher, Herridge is full of confidence leading into the event he won last year. “I’ve got really fond memories of Longyou”, Dean said before leaving for China. “In ’07 we led the event, had some problems, but then came back to win five of the six stages on Sunday. And then to win it last year; that’s probably one of my top-five moments. To be there and help Subaru Rally Team China achieve their first CRC round win was fantastic. The excitement of the team was incredible, and then to top it off with a podium in the APRC section of the event…”

But while Longyou has provided Herridge with success in the past, some of the best production rally drivers in the world will also be vying for victory. “It’s going to be a quality field this year. We’ll have Cody Crocker and Emma Gilmore for Motor Image, MRF with Taguchi and Gill, Cusco with their EVO Xs, the new Super 2000 Proton. And that’s just the APRC teams! We’ve also got a really strong field in the CRC at the moment with Juha Salo, Jussi Valimaki and it looks like Jari Ketomaa is coming across to run in the Prodrive team. So three really quick Finnish guys. And then you have David Higgins who’s ‘owned’ the Chinese championship for the last two and half years, and Tony Green has a ride with a new team for this event. There’s a dozen quality drivers and teams who are all going to be fighting for the win. So anywhere near a podium or a win would be great for us”.

“We’re desperate to have a good rally. We haven’t had a great year, so we really want to finish the year on a high note at these next two events. We’ve got some different things to try. Normally (at this time of the year) there wouldn’t be too much to talk about development-wise. But we’re going over earlier for this one. We’ll hopefully get a day or so for testing, and the guys have got a really good list of things we’ll try and improve on the car”.

“Longyou has always been a good event for me. We think we’ll make some good gains with the changes we’ve got planned, the conditions will suit our tyres a little more, so I’m pretty excited about the event”.

To hear the full interview with Dean, just click the ‘Play’ button. Rally China starts next weekend, with a ceremonial start on Friday the 13th, and stages run on the 14th and 15th. And keep checking www.deanherridge.com for news and results from Longyou during the event.

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It was a day to ‘play it safe’ for Dean Herridge and the SRTC Subaru Impreza during the final few stages of Rally Fogang.

The third round of the Chinese Rally Championship, just six short stages were scheduled for leg 2, meaning there was little oppoertunity for Dean to move up the leader board after all the crews completed the morning stages without incident. “We controlled our pace this afternoon to make sure we made it to the finish line. With the stages so short, once the first few were run there was little chance for us to catch Jussi (Valimaki)”, Dean commented at the podium presentation.

“There was rain on the final stage, which made things interesting on the concrete roads! But we got through without a problem and the car was very good today”.

“Now we’re looking forward to Rally Shaowu. We had a good run there last year until we broke the suspension on the last day. But it’s a rally that we have some experience at, and Chris and I, and all the SRTC team, will be targeting a good result”.

Sunday saw no change to the top-5 positions, meaning David Higgins took victory, just ahead of his brother Mark, with Jussi Valimaki in third.

The Chinese Rally Championship now moves back to gravel, with the next round, Rally Showau, beginning on the 18th of September.

Rally Fogang – Final Results (Unofficial)

1. David Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9
2. Mark Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, +35.3
3. Jussi Valimaki, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, +1:12.6
4. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +1:54.3
5. Lui Cao Dong, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, 2:39.8

The third round of the Chinese Rally Championship, Rally Fogang is underway with Dean and co-driver Chris Murphy sitting in 4th place at the end of day 1.

Situated in Guangdong Province, in the south-east of China, Fogang is approximately 200km north of Subaru Rally Team’s base in Shenzen. A slightly different style of rally, Fogang presented the crews with a combination of gravel and cement roads.

“We’ve had a reasonably good day today”, Dean commented after Saturday’s eight stages. “The stages have been quite tricky. They’re fairly narrow and there was a fair amount of dirt and rubbish pulled onto the corners after the first run of stages. We had to be quite careful during the afternoon loop (of stages).”

“We struggled a little bit in the morning loop, but during service we made some changes to the car, and it worked really well in the afternoon. We narrowed the gap to the top three, and although we lost 3rd gear on the second-last stage, the car was much better. The boys will replace the gearbox tonight, and see what we can do tomorrow to make up some more time”.

One aspect of Fogang that caught out a few crews was the intense heat. Nial McShea, driving for the FCACA team in place of Kiwi regular Tony Green, had been running second early in the day. But as the temperatures inside the cars climbed, the Irish driver struggled to cope in the difficult physical conditions. He was forced to retire at the end of stage six, he and his dehydrated co-driver taken to hospital as a precaution. The heat is also thought to have effected Red River driver Xu, who crashed out of the event during the afternoon stages.

At the top of the time sheets, it’s been a battle between English brothers David and Mark Higgins, with David claiming day 1 honours for the South East Automotive 10000 team, Mark and former WRC co-driver Nicky Grist in second place, and Finn Jussi Valimaki in the final podium position.

Rally Fogang wraps up on Sunday, with the crews contesting a further six stages before the podium presentation at the International Garden Spa Hotel.

Rally Fogang – Day 1 Results (Unofficial)

1. David Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9
2. Mark Higgins, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, +1:03.7
3. Jussi Valimaki, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, +1:18.6
4. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +1:37.8
5. Lui Cao Dong, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9, 2:09.2
6. Han Han, Subaru Impreza WRX STi, +2:32.1

It’s been a successful Quit Targa West rally, with Dean Herridge and Chris Murphy claiming a podium position at their first attempt.

With the gaps between the top five increasing during the morning stages, Dean and Chris concentrated on preserving the Maximum Motorsport Subaru over the final stages to claim third second place behind Steven Jones and Tony Quinn.

(Aug 24 Update: During post-event scruinteering, an exhaust irregularity was found on the Nissan GTR 35 of Tony Quinn (car #90). As a consequence car #90 was excluded from the final results, elevating Dean to second place, and the Alister McRae/Bill Hayes Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X into the final podium place.)

“It’s pretty pleasing to be able to claim a podium at the first attempt”, Dean commented at the finish line. “The rain on Saturday made conditions quite tricky, but the car and the team have been fantastic. We’ve run the car at Targa Tasmania and Targa Wrest Point this year, and it’s great to be able to compete in front of our home crowd and come up with such a good result”.

While Jones and Quinn maintained station at the head of the field, Alister McRae managed to sneak past both Dylan Thomas and Peter Major to claim fourth third place. Of the other Maximum Motorsport teams, Rob Herridge moved up another two positions during Sunday’s stages to take ninth eighth place, while Graham Iddles took 20th 19th place.

And with the Quit Targa West rally completed, Dean and Chris now head directly to China for next weekends Rally Fogang in the Guangdong province. Rally Fogang is the third round of the Chinese series, and Dean will be keen continue his good form in the SRTC Subaru.

Quit Targa West – Final Results, Modern Competition

1. Steven Jones, Nissan GTR 35, 1:47:14.0
2. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +2:29.0
3. Alister McRae, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 RS, +4:05.0
4. Dylan Thomas, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 RS, +4:39.0
8. Rob Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +6:31.0
19. Graham Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +15:59.0
25. Paul Carrucan, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti RA, +18:25.0
42. David Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti , +27:50.0

Photos courtesy of Peter Evans.

It’s been a wet day, but maybe not wet enough for the #65 Maximum Motorsport Impreza of Dean Herridge and Chris Murphy. A day of fast and open stages has suited the Nissan GTRs of Steven Jones and Tony Quinn, the more powerful cars slipping free of the rest of the field. Try as he may Dean was able to capture a win on one stage only today, with Jones and Quinn dividing the spoils.

“Normally rain is a bit of an equaliser in motorsport, and it was helpful today. The stages suited the more powerful cars, so to be sitting comfortably in as podium position isn’t too bad a result”, Dean said at the end of the day.

Defending Targa West champ Steven Jones battled with overnight leader Tony Quinn for most of the day, but by the end of leg two Jones had taken the lead with a handy 51 second lead, while Dean remaining in third and 22 secs adrift of Quinn.

Saturdays stages formed a loop to the north-east of Perth, and Sunday with feature re-runs of some of those stages, before the crews head back toward Perth and the finish line at the Burswood Entertainment Complex.

Quit Targa West – Leg 2 Results, Modern Competition

1. Steven Jones, Nissan GTR 35, 1:10:20.0 0
2. Tony Quinn, Nissan GTR 35, +51.0
3. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +1:13.0
4. Dylan Thomas, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9 RS, +2:41.0
5. Peter Major, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 RS, +2:45.0
11. Rob Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +4:03.0
21. Graham Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +9:56.0
31. Paul Carrucan, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti RA, +12:43.0
46. David Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +19:32.0

Photos courtesy of Peter Evans.

It has been a good day for the #65 Impreza of Dean Herridge and Chris Murphy, currently sitting in third place after the first seven stages of the Quit Targa West Rally.

Although the opening day was cool, the rain stayed away allowing Dean’s Subaru Impreza and the Nissan GTRs of Steven Jones and Tony Quinn to fight for the lead in the Modern Competition.

“We had a nice clean run today”, commented Dean. “The car has been good, and we’re just pacing ourselves to conserve tyres. You can’t win this event on the first day, so we’re just running our own strategy and we’ll see what happens on Saturday and Sunday”.

Just behind Dean, Perth-based Scot Alister McRae sits in fourth place, with Peter Major rounding out the top five. Among the Maximum Motorsport cars, Graham Iddles has just managed to beat son David today, just one second splitting them after the first day, while Rob Herridge is a three second further back in 26th place.

Saturday sees the crews heads to the north-east of Perth, with first stage run through the town of Muchea andthen on to fast and open stages around Bindoon and Toodyay. The leg covers twelve stages for a total of 92km.

Quit Targa West – Leg 1 Results, Modern Competition

1. Tony Quinn, Nissan GTR 35 27:52.0
2. Steven Jones, Nissan GTR 35, +4.0
3. Dean Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +13.0
4. Alister McRae, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 10 RS, +37.0
5. Peter Major, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 RS, +51.0
23. Graham Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +3:31.0
24. David Iddles, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +3:32.0
26. Rob Herridge, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti, +3:35.0
40. Paul Carrucan, Subaru Impreza WRX Sti RA, +4:51.0

Photos courtesy of Peter Evans.