Zeal Jones and Bayden Thomson will press the reset button and aim for their first outright win when the Morizo Challenge Cup rally series heads into its final three rounds.
Round five didn’t exactly go as planned with Jones retiring from Rally Kamuy with damage sustained from contact with a hidden concrete drain after once again contending for a top-three spot in the results.
Once again, the crew had to adjust to new surface conditions – a feature of the learning process from this season’s Morizo campaign – but there were plenty of positives to take forward into the final three rounds, which begin with Rally Hokkaido at the beginning of September.
“Day 1 at Kamuy was steady as we again got used to a new experience, surface with the car. But throughout the day, we improved – especially in the afternoon loop, after some setup changes at the service. We finished with two stage wins to finish the day in second overall, 30 seconds behind the leader but a minute ahead of third.
“Overnight, we evaluated our chances for the championship and risk assessed what was possible. In the morning, we got the word to push hard on Day 2 and apply some pressure to the leader to try to force a mistake.
“The first stage of that second day was actually the first time we could drive the car the way we wanted to, with the nature of the road a bit more what we were used to.
“It was all looking great on a familiar surface, but with two corners to go we unfortunately took a small cut which pushed us wide out in the grass half a wheel width too wide.
“Hidden in the grass was a concrete drain that hit the rear left, which kicked us up and into the drain channel itself, which we drove in for 100m, trying to get out before getting stuck.
“To make matters worse, we later heard we had been catching the lead car, and it had a very similar moment at the exact same spot, but got away with it. Through our calculations, we were also on track to take 10 seconds out of them, reducing the gap down to just 20 seconds.”
Jones and Thomson remain second in the points but now trail leaders Otake Nao and Hashimoto Misaki by 73 points.
Mathematically, it’s still possible to take the title, but Zeal is focusing on producing three more solid results from the final three events, and hopefully that elusive first win.
“We certainly feel that if everything comes together, we now have enough knowledge to push for that first win and at least keep the pressure on the top contenders in the championship.
“We are the top car in the Cusco team, so that’s a positive as well, but I think we have to focus on making that next step up in terms of performance and in terms of results, so that’s how we will approach the final three weekends.”
“The team again are motivated knowing a win is within striking distance with more testing scheduled before the next event, Rally Hokkaido 5-7 September. Rest assured, we will be fully focused on taking that first win.”
The Morizo Challenge Cup is a new category run as a class within the All Japan Rally Championship. All crews compete in Toyota’s GR Yaris, where tight rules and limited modifications put the focus on driver skill and teamwork.
All drivers must be under 25 years old, and the objective of the championship is to provide a stepping stone to higher rallying categories for Japan’s rising rally stars. With a Japanese mother, Jones’ entry into the championship was welcomed.
Header Image: Supplied
