The pair came home 29th overall and 11th in class WR1 in their SparCornwall.com, SparDevon.com and Kumho Tyres-supported Subaru Impreza World Rally Car (WRC) but they endured a difficult day before finally making it to the finish of the 45-mile Forest of Dean-based gravel event.

 They began the day with a burnt out starter motor and had to tow start the car. On replacing the starter motor with a spare they realised that it was broken as well so they had to start the rally with added pressure, knowing that stalling the car could put them out of the event. The crew survived a big moment over a hidden jump in stage two after getting adjusted to the car and softening the suspension and altering the brake bias.

In stage three they lost a few seconds when they overshot a right hairpin before the cockpit began to fill with smoke. On stopping to inspect the car they realised the rear bumper was smouldering on the exhaust following the overshoot and ripped it off before continuing after losing around a minute and a half in time.

On stage four Cookson/Wilkinson posted the second fastest time behind event winners Andy Burton and Shelley Rogerson and service saw the fitting of a new, working starter motor. Stage five threw up its fair share of drama as the crew survived a couple of spins with the final two stages running fairly smoothly for them to finish their first gravel event since July’s Swansea Bay Rally and their first in the Impreza WRC. “We’re just so glad to have finished. Maybe 29th overall wasn’t the aim but the finish was, especially with everything that the day threw up,” Cookson said. “I’m really pleased we did the event as it has given us a good insight into the car pre Sunseeker and hopefully we can make some quick changes to improve it. It was a great event run by great people.” 

Cookson and Wilkinson will begin their MSA Gravel Rally Championship campaign in just two weeks when they take part in the season-opening Bournemouth-based Rallye Sunseeker on 22-23 February. They will be contesting the MSA National Gravel Championship for a second time this year after doing it in 2007 in their N10 Subaru Impreza and finishing third overall in the Subaru Trophy. The pair entered the Sunseeker last year but will not be wanting a repeat performance after the gearbox broke whilst backing it off the trailer and they failed to make it to the start of the event. “Initially our aim is to try and get on the pace of the other WRC cars on these events. I think if we can get off to a good, confident start we can do okay but getting some points on the board, especially after last year’s misfortune on the event, is going to be the aim,” Cookson said. “From what I’ve been told the stages are very similar to those on the Tempest Rally, which we’ve done twice now so I’m really looking forward to it and hopefully the tough time we’ve had in the car this weekend will pay off.” 

Cookson has become familiar with the Bournemouth area recently after opening a Spar shop in Upton near Poole on Friday (8 February). The shop was formerly known as Triangle Stores to the locals but has since undergone a £200,000 refit and offers everything from off-licence products, newspapers and groceries as well as having a its own in-store bakery department. Cookson and Wilkinson will start at car number 26 on the Rallye Sunseeker in their Subaru WRC Spares-prepared Impreza.