What happened was,we did not notice the instruction to keep left at the split for TWO laps before keeping right to the finish - and so did not complete the stage by missing out the 2nd lap and collected a maximum!A few other crews made the same mistake. Not the best start,and on top of that the Astra was holding back on exiting every left-hand corner costing us quite a lot of time as we were running anti-clockwise for the first 6 stages. It is thought to be possibly a fuel problem, maybe dirt in tank disturbed in moving the tank to the new shell but not yet sure. The tank is coming out for a flush out and a new fuel filter fitted and see if that sorts it.We could not think of anything else as it was going well on the straights and right-hand corners.Any other suggestions welcome though!

Simon and Dale retired with gearbox problems after 5 stages,and Jim finished 14th,the car running well after some frantic repair work following damage sustained at Caerwent the previous weekend.

The heavy rain meant there was a lot of standing water and much aquaplaning,made it quite interesting!!