The 3rd round of the 2009 China Rally Championship, Rally Fogang was held from August 28th - 30th. Situated in Guangdong province in the southeast of China, Fogang is quite close to Subaru Rally Team China’s (SRTC) base in Guangzhou. SRTC sent a GRB and two GDBs for this rally. Australian Dean Herridge claimed 2nd place in the Quit Targa West event in Australia right before he left for this rally in China. His team mate Li Wei showed superb stability for the previous two rounds, taking a pair of 2nd place finishes among the Chinese drivers, while also claiming the first points by a Chinese driver.

TThe stages of this rally are quite special, with a combination of both tarmac and concrete roads. There are 14 stages altogether, with a total SS distance of 133km.

The event opened on the afternoon of Friday with a Superspecial stage in front of an enthusiastic crowd. Both Dean and Li Wei struggled due to making the wrong tyre choice. Dean finished the Superspecial stage in an unbelievably low position of 12th overall, while his teammate Li Wei slid off the stage and encountered a puncture. After Saturday’s eight proper stages, “We’ve had a reasonably good day today,” commented Dean. “The stages have been quite tricky. We struggled a little bit in the morning loop, but during Service we made some changes to the car, and it worked really well in the afternoon.” After finishing leg 1, Dean quickly cemented 4th position overall, with a gap of 19.2 seconds to Jussi Valimaki in third. Li Wei didn’t drive well in the morning, but after changing his trye cut and suspension, gradually built up his pace. He finished Day 1 in 9th overall and 4th among the Chinese drivers.

On Day two, it was a day to “play it safe” for Dean during the final few stages of Rally Fogang since there were just six short stages scheduled for the leg, meaning there were only a few chances for him to move up the leader board after all the crews had completed the morning stages without incident. “There was rain on the final stage, which made things interesting on the concrete roads! But we got through without a problem and the car was very good today.” Eventually, Sunday’s running saw no change to the top five positions and Dean Herridge finished the rally in 4th place.

Because of the absence of an engineer to support Li Wei, and also the tyre problems he experienced on this round, he showed a slight lack in confidece. Eventually, he took 10th position overall and 5th among the Chinese drivers.

There are two more rounds left this season, and they present the best opportunities for SRTC. The team experienced a win on a gravel event last year in Longyou. They will make concerted preparations for the next round, also a part of the APRC, which will be held from the 14th -15th of September.