RTG Espana Daily Dispatch - mid-res - Flipbook - Page 24
24 April to 5 May 2022
Day 11 Oviedo to Santander (335 km)
5 May 2022
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Vintage victors Martin and Olivia Hunt, 1937 Frazer Nash-BMW 328 (left); classic winners Alan and Tina Beardshaw, 1965 Aston Martin DB5
Three Tests and a Regularity were set for today through the small, but mighty, Picos de Europa mountain
range. This last day of the Carrera packed a powerful punch, with some fantastic scenery, great roads
and an excellent lunch. And, the weather played along as well.
The first Regularity, the so-called Cabin Five, ran from the
village of Cabañaquinta. Gill and John Cotton were on the
clocks sending the cars up into the early morning mist
of the Sierra de Navaliego. From here they tackled a long
steady climb to the Alto de San Isidro, before the second
Regularity ramped up over the 1625m Puerto de Las
Senales on the lower slopes of the Cordillera Cantabrica.
By mid morning, with the views getting better with every
metre we climbed, the Picos National Park really turned
on the style, with a display of snowy peaks and rocky
pinnacles breathtakingly set against a deep blue sky.
When the crews found the strength to drag their eyes
from the view and back to their roadbooks they’d have
noticed a left turn at the embalse de Riaño before the climb
to the Time Control at the Hotel Cumbres de Valdeón. An
almost après ski mood gripped the rally here in this most
alpine of settings, with hot coffee served on the panoramic
sun terrace whilst the engines cooled in the shade.
The third and final Regularity was run over the 1562m
Puerto de Pandetrave, sadly it was the last of the event.
But, given its magnificent setting, it was a fitting endpaper
to the final chapter. From the top it was inevitably downhill
all the way to the lunch Time Control in the Hotel Balneario
la Hermida through a set of exceptional hairpins on a wide
and well engineered road.
A last blast Test was held at the Karting LaRoca track
in Reocín. All the crews threw themselves into this with
typical end of rally gusto, but no significant changes to the
leaderboard resulted so, when the cars rolled under the
finish arch in front of the Hotel Real Eurostars in Santander,
it was Alan and Tina Beardshaw who were declared the
classic category winners and Martin and Olivia Hunt victors
in the vintage category.
After taking the chequered flag, soaking up the applause
and soaking each other with some local sparkling wine, it
was time for the Hunts and Beardshaws, no strangers to
the podium, to reflect on their wins. For Alan and Tina this
is their second Carrera win having come out on top in 2019
on the Carrera Iberia whilst Martin Hunt won the recent
Generations Rally.
Alan was delighted “Tina and I have been married and
rallying together now for 50 years and this is the best rally
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