Rallying is a sport full of ‘what ifs?’, though, and Guernsey navigator Will Rutherford, in his alliance with Jersey driver Ed Fossey, was ultimately left playing a nigh-on impossible game of catch-up against Caesarean star Ross Le Noa as he prevailed for a seventh straight edition.
They had paid the price for a most unfortunate electrical issue with their Proton Satria Millington during the sixth stage that went ahead on Friday, which negated the fact they outperformed the unbeaten driver and experienced – but new to competing in Guernsey – navigator Derek Le Bailly for much of the rain-soaked rally.
As the Jersey duo won in 58min. 20.9sec. in their roaring red Ford Escort MK2, Fossey and Rutherford finished runners-up 52.4sec. back and took the Class One honours as a consolation.
The sister isle’s rallying depth was further underlined with Dave Oliveira and Victor Nobrega placing a close third in 1-00-34.9, followed just 7.5sec. later by Darryl Morris and Kieran Gregory.
Nick Duquemin and Phil Ferbrache, fifth overall and another 6.4sec. down, took the domestic bragging rights after incidents for the only two all-Guernsey crews seeded above them.
Although the sun was shining on Friday lunchtime’s ceremonial start at the Peninsula Hotel, the weather soon took a turn for the worse with persistent rain throughout the two days.
Hopes of a home victory had taken a major hit not long after competitors set off on the slippery roads, with the two highest-seeded Guernsey drivers both facing incidents before the first run of the opening Castel stage was done.
Craig Robert, seeded second overall in reflection of last year’s outstanding result, and 2023 runner-up Paul Trebert both picked up penalties that removed them from contention.
But Guernsey navigator Rutherford brought the possibility of some home glory as he came through the four runs at Castel, holding a slender lead alongside Fossey.
They had traded blows with Le Noa, taking two wins each on a short and sharp course featuring a spectator-pleasing hairpin, but had nevertheless taken a 2.5sec. advantage heading into the notorious ‘night stages’.
The evening action at Le Prevote and St Saviour’s brought further turbulence, with Robert crashing out entirely and delays causing four stages to be cancelled.
Although Fossey and Rutherford still led after the first Prevote run, their car cutting out in the following St Saviour’s effort and an ensuing struggle to get it going again led to them dropping a minute and picking up from fifth.
After Friday’s eight completed stages, Le Noa and Le Bailly looked almost untouchable on 18-04.2, with Morris and Gregory next in 18-58.1.
But Fossey and Rutherford were right on the second Jersey crew’s tails with a deficit of less than 5sec.
That gap went almost immediately upon the restart. The inter-island pairing put down the fastest times in most of Saturday morning’s Cobo and Talbot stages – including a hot streak of five straight wins to start their day – yet they could only put small dents into the leaders’ advantage.
The top five at this point was looking clear-cut and it would realistically take a mechanical or crash – not a rare thing in rallying – for Duquemin and Ferbrache to drop out of the top five. Multiple UK asphalt champion Damian Cole and Guernsey co-driver Ian Allsop were in sixth but unable to pressure them on the narrow Guernsey lanes.
The top all-Sarnian duo still had room to go up, with less than 10sec. on third.
Despite the challenge of the afternoon’s Felconte and Rocquaine stages in fairly heavy rain, these positions all remained fixed up top.
However, Karl Robert and young navigator Luke Saunders made important gains in the afternoon to finish seventh overall, but importantly the Sarnian duo were also among the winners after topping a well-fought Class Five.
Jersey’s Paul Vibert and Nick Le Masurier came out top of Class Eight.
