London to Cape Town Rally: End Day 5

It’s the end of Day 5 on the 2012 London to Cape Town Rally. No news from Francis Tuthill in the Toyota Hi-Lux, but I can tell you he was lying in 19th position at the end of Day 4: one place behind the Porsche 964 Carrera 4 of Tomas Premosil and Lukas Kuttler.

Further towards the front, the Tuthill-built 911 of Joost von Cauwenberge and Jacques Castalein is going very well, with three World Cup stage wins and two second places in nine stages up to the end of Day 4. The final stage of day three was their only problem, when a navigational error cost them dearly, bringing them across the line in 31st position.

No results are yet available for the end of today, but the pair finished Day 4 in tenth position overall, a solid result underlining their competitiveness. Four places back is the Porsche 912 of our friends Alastair Caldwell and Hayden Burvill.

The pair have had a steady start to the rally – Alastair had barely driven 50 kilometres in the 912 before the rally preamble in Brooklands last Sunday – but he has been settling in well, scoring his best position of the event to date in yesterday’s World Cup stage: a very sweet fourth place.

Today was the toughest day of the rally so far, with 470 kms to cover and some tricky stages in the Greek countryside. The top ten went wrong on the final stage, giving our 912 friends a helping hand up the order. Tomorrow is an incredible day, with no less than six flat out stages and a 500 km drive to the midnight ferry to Egypt. You know it’s going to bring some casualties.

Day 7 is a rest day, the only one until Nairobi in Kenya: ten days and 5,000 kilometres away. Can you believe they paid to do this event?! (pics here by Gerard Brown)

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