Hunt hoping to reignite IRC 2WD Cup bid in Corsica

Harry Hunt will be hoping his impressive performance on Rally 1000 Miglia in Italy last weekend will reignite his bid for the 2012 IRC 2WD Cup.

The British driver has endured a frustrating start to his season by failing to finish in Açores and Gran Canaria.

On the European and Italian championship-counting Rally 1000 Miglia, which finished in Brescia last Saturday, Hunt took third place in his class, despite having never previously tackled the asphalt event before.

“I’m really happy with our result, it’s our first podium of 2012 so it feels very good indeed,” said the 23-year-old, who regularly matched the pace set by several local and more experienced rivals. “It was a very demanding rally though, the stages were so tight and twisty over there so the roads and grip level were constantly changing. It made it very hard to get the pacenotes correct.

“I really think that knowledge is the key to success at a rally like that,” he continued. “We lost about 30 seconds on Thursday’s super special as we got caught in a downpour just before we got going. Then we had a bit of a set-up problem on Friday when we lost quite a lot of time. We changed the anti-roll bars and some of the damper settings at the service, and everything went perfectly after that. Overall, I’m really happy – the experience was brilliant, and it’s been our best result of the year so far.”

Hunt and co-driver Robbie Durant will complete a test in northern Italy next week ahead of round four of the IRC, Giru di Corsica-Tour de Corse, getting underway on 9 May.