Media Release: Andy Scott Ends ERC Season With Sixth Race Win
Estering Buxtehude, Germany – Sunday, September 30, 2012; Andy Scott sealed his select FIA European Rallycross season with a storming drive to take his sixth race win in the final round showdown at Estering Buxtehude, Germany. After notching up a second and two third place finishes in the qualifying heats, Scott took a resounding B Final victory and continued his charge from the back of the A Final grid to finish his ERC campaign with an impressive fifth place.
Following a great job by the Tony Bardy Motorsport team to replace the steering rack damaged in the last round in Finland, a consistent performance in Saturday’s two untimed practices in difficult conditions allowed the Scot to clock-in eighth fastest in timed practice.
Lining up alongside the pole-sitter for the opening heat, Scott made a perfect getaway to place second into the first corner. After four very wet laps around the 945-metre course, the 2011 MSA British Rallycross Vice-Champion brought his 4x4 Ford Focus ST home in the runner-up spot, earning the sixth fastest time heading into Sunday’s finale.
Improved weather conditions greeted the final day of FIA ERC 2012 competition, however, Saturday’s downpours resulted in extremely muddy and rutted sections around the 40 per cent gravel Estering course. In the fight to the first turn, Scott’s second heat chances were compromised when mud blocked the 550bhp Ford Focus’ inter cooler. Despite a 100bhp disadvantage, the Scott Trawlers-backed entry battled on to record a third place finish, the increased race time dropping the #11 car to 12th overall heading into the final qualifying heat.
Equipped with the fully repaired Ford Focus, Scott was in fighting form and got a good start from grid three to take second at the first tight hairpin turn. Although still suffering from loss of power, the Dumfries ace held station until the last lap when Kevin Procter managed to nip ahead while Scott took the joker, putting the Ford a close third to rank eighth overall.
Intent on finishing the ERC season on a high, as a precautionary measure following the blocked inter cooler Tony Bardy Motorsport installed a brand new TiAL Sport turbo in time for the B Final. Lining-up on the front row, Scott nailed the start to lead at the first turn and set an impressive pace posting his best lap times of the weekend en route to an unchallenged victory three seconds ahead of the competition, earning immediate promotion to the season finale.
With the first A Final start red flagged due to an incident involving Pavel Koutny, Scott was clean away from grid seven at the second attempt and took two places at the hairpin to lie fifth at the end of lap one. But heading into the hairpin on lap two, Scott hit a rut causing significant steering damage. Determined to finish the final race of the season, Scott dug-in to expertly nurse his chariot to the chequered flag in fifth.
“It’s great to finish off the ERC season with a fifth place in the A Final. My aim here in Germany was to score a top six result, so we’ve achieved what we set out to do and gone one better,” said Scott. “We had to battle back from our poor heat two race time due to the blocked inter cooler, but third in heat three and a strong B Final win put us back in the fight.
“The Ford Focus ST felt great at the A Final restart so it was a shame I got caught in the rut and broke the steering. I was determined to finish the race, so I just concentrated on touring round to see if I could pick-up a place and it paid off. This weekend’s result just adds to the recent solid development of the Ford Focus and the performance advantage that the new TiAL Sport turbo gives us has been evident. We now look forward to continuing that development with our valued partners for next season.”
-Ends-
Andy Scott Press Office:
Emma Spearing: +44 (0)7736 341828 | emma@hazelpr.com
Cathy Metcalfe: +44 (0)7802 332398 | cathy@hazelpr.com
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