Daniel, co-driver Arthur Kierans and his team are delighted to announce that they have crowned the BRC Rally 2 champions with the Scanbitz Ltd and Ravenol Motoroil supported Ford Fiesta R2 at the final round of the BRC, Rallye Sunseeker in Poole, Dorset. Daniel sealed the championship with a mature controlled drive to finish second in the R2 category on the event, doing more than enough to take a hard fought title from event winner Steve Rokland. This was Daniel’s sixth podium of the year in as many events, the only R2 crew to manage this amazing feat, which stands testament to the speed and consistency of this championship winning crew.
Ten tough stages and eight other R2 crew stood between Daniel and the Title before the event started and after the Friday Recce, Daniel new that remaining in a top five position throughout the event, which was enough to guarantee him the title was not going to be an easy task. The plan was to start with a steady safe pace and monitor all other R2 drivers times and make no mistakes to take the championship. Also for added safety the crew carried a bigger tool repair kit and some extra spares in case of emergency which they knew would affect the cars performance but Daniel was willing to compromise this for the added reliability.
Daniel and Arthur did exactly this going second fastest on the first stage directly behind Rokland. Daniel remained in this position throughout the event, driving well within his capabilities to consolidate his podium place and stay ahead of the chasing pack. However with slippery conditions on the stages for much of the day and the top five R2 cars never being separated by any more than a minute and thirty seconds, one mishap could have spelled disaster for Daniel’s championship hopes. Another problem was with three passes on some of the stages they became extremely rough and rutted which really took its toll on the car, but the reliable Fiesta R2 was more than able for the challenge and Daniel even managed to set a fastest stage time on stage 8 of the event despite driving in safe mode.
Daniel is absolutely delighted with the result and the championship season as a whole, here is what he had to say about his wonderful achievement. “At the beginning of the season I couldn’t have dreamed for the championship to work out like this for us. To be on the pace with all these great drivers in the BRC, take four wins, a second and a third is unbelievable. I really need to thank my dedicated service crew for their help all year, especially Sharkey Motorsport for preparing a very reliable car throughout the season. I would like to thank all my sponsors for their support, Motorsport Ireland and the Irish Sports Council for their great advice in conjunction with the Billy Coleman Award, Arthur Kierans for a great job all year on the notes and all of my friends and family for all of their support and good luck. The championship win really sets us up well for the Pirelli Star Driver Shootout over the next few days and I am hopeful for another big result from that competition”.
Daniel’s focus switches now immediately to the Pirelli Star Driver shootout where he will compete against five other nominees for a prize of a full BRC Season in a Citroen DS3 R3T backed by Pirelli which is extremely important for Daniel and his rallying future for the chance to make it into the next level of the sport. Daniel’s number one goal before the season began was to secure a nomination for the Pirelli Shootout and to be a strong contender for the prize which he has done, so fingers crossed he can end his season on a fantastic high.
Another competition for Daniel this week is the BRC Live Media Trophy shootout held at World Rally preparation experts, Prodrive’s facility in Banbury. Daniel along with 5 other nominees will be interviewed where the winner will get to test drive JCW Mini S2000 which is another amazing opportunity in conjunction with the BRC.
Daniel will let you all know how these competitions unfold with a post-event press release next week so keep an eye on his website, danielmckenna.net. In the meantime keep up to date on Daniel’s Twitter and Facebook pages for any updates over the two competitions.
