RtG The Daily Dispatch - Carrera Riviera - WEB - Flipbook - Page 24
Day 11: Courchevel to Tourrettes, 15 June 2023
ahead. We’ve been very warm and very wet and we’ve had
the odd disagreement but we’re all smiles now and looking
forward to next year’s Carrera Bavaria”.
Tomasz Dzitko and Beata Siwek had a great event. Perhaps
a little wistfully, Tomasz said “In such a tough competition,
making one mistake may drop you one place down and this
will always mean that it’s difficult to recover”.
“We tried our hardest every day. We have three rules on
a rally, the first is to show respect, the second is to have
fun and the third is to compete. The car worked very well,
we were third on the Tests behind a Porsche 2.7 and Jaguar
C Type and we were ahead of many other cars, so we are
absolutely thrilled by this. My navigator worked very hard
to get us back in contention after we made our mistake but,
as per the rules of the rally we have to accept second place”.
Simon and Jack Brien brought both a car with a very
special provenance and a terrific attitude to the rally. Low,
fast and open to all of the elements, this rarest of big cats
barely put a foot wrong throughout the 11 days whilst
the crew entertained everyone with some spirited sallies
around the various circuits and sections.
Reflecting on their win Simon, who’d done most of the
driving said “probably the number one reason was that
Jack kept me on the right road. He did an outstanding job
with the navigation. And the C Type, thanks to my good
friend Mick Cotter, was just the dream car to drive. It’s an
absolutely stunning car and we had an absolute ball. Rally
the Globe set an unbelievable route with some fabulous
Tests and road sections and I think that everyone has had
a great time. We are here tonight in Cannes and couldn’t
be more appreciative of the eleven days we’ve had. We’re
looking forward to a great night”.
Hermann Frye-Hammelmann and Gisela Hammelmann,
1964 Jaguar MK 2
Neil Smith and Trevor Skillen, Porsche 911 and in the background Tim
and Matt Wheatley, Volvo 122S Amazon
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
The Vintage Category, was less knife-edge with Martin
and Olivia Hunt taking the overall win by 4 seconds from
Graham and Marina Goodwin. True to form, the former
were delighted and the latter magnanimous.
The Hôtel Martinez was hosting this 15th prize-giving
dinner of Rally the Globe’s, planning drinks and dinner
on the beach. Once again the weather took charge and the
hospitality team’s plan B swung into action with tables
hastily set inside the beach club away from the deluge.
Fred Gallagher, the Rally Director led the evening paying
tribute to all who’d made the event such a success with a
special mention going to Denis Giraudet who’d worked so
hard to weave all of those minor roads and Test venues
into one rich tapestry.
Mark Appleton presented the awards including the two
discretionary prizes. The Spirit of the Rally went to Ean and
Alison Lewin in their Escort Mexico whilst the Against all
Odds trophy was handed to John and Catherine Harrison
who’d tackled the event in “possibly the most unsuitable
car ever”, the La France Roadster.
Martin and Olivia Hunt are on their second Carrera win,
having triumphed on the Carrera España in 2022. Martin
also took first place in the Generations Rally of the same
year. “We’ve had a fantastic event, at no point in the early
days of the Rally did we have any expectation of winning,
we struggled with the tripmeter and Olivia hadn’t done a
rally for 12 months so she possibly needed a little warming
up, but slowly things began to come together and then,
about two days ago, we realised that we were within reach
of the Goodwins. The pressure was really on, right down to
the last day with Graham and Marina matching our times
all the way, but by the last Section we had just inched
www.rallytheglobe.com