Beaton targets regular WRC spot after Ypres success
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A REGULAR spot in the World Rally Championship field is the target for Paul Beaton after nearly breaking the top 10 at the Ypres Rally in Belgium.
Alongside driver Euan Thorburn, the pair finished in 12th place and were only denied a top-10 spot after breaking their driveshaft on the final stage, when they were sitting in ninth place.
With just one previous WRC2 event under the belt, the Rally of Ireland in April, Beaton had set expectations low for the weekend, given that they were competing against cars more powerful than their Ford Fiesta.
However, a strong showing in Ypres had the locals, and fellow drivers talking about them, particularly after a spectacular corner in the final Hollebeke stage.
Discussions will take place as to whether they can work out logistics to compete at another WRC event in the Czech Republic in August, before setting their sights on a regular spot.
“We’ll sit down in the next week and discuss whether we can go to the Czech Republic for another WRC race in August. After Rally GB, we’ll look at getting a new car to have a real go at it next season,” said Beaton.
“We can’t really compete regularly with this car. We need something with a bit more grunt.”
The 2014 Scottish Rally Championship winners qualified in 16th place and made a steady climb up the leader board over the two days in western Belgium. Heading into the final stage at Hollebeke, Beaton and Thorburn were in 10th place and just a second off the Belgians in front of them.
But a broken drive shaft on the final stage cost them a minute off their time, enough to send them down into 12th place. Despite the disappointment towards the end, the experience was overwhelmingly positive for the Drakies co-driver.
“We went over there knowing we wouldn’t be up there with the top guys and it’s a really hard place to rally. There’s no vantage points with the corners and rather than using “about” or “around”, we needed more specific distances on the notes,” said Beaton.
“We lost time over-braking and put the car off a couple of times by under-breaking.
“But everyone was saying how well we did and the amount of people there was phenomenal. Even finishing it was massive. We got a good reception there and everyone was talking about that corner.
“We were pretty much airborne at that point. We’d misjudged the corner and took it flat out in sixth gear and just managed to get away with it as we landed the car. Another boy made the same mistake and ended up writing off his car.”
The overall race was won by home driver Freddy Loix, who won his 10th Ypres Rally. Beaton and Thorburn were the second British pair to finish, behind Martin McCormack and James O’Reilly who came ninth.
“We’ll try call in some favours and get to the Czech Republic. It would be a shame not to do it after showing up so well in Belgium,” added Beaton.
