Clark Motorsport | life in the fast lane

Barry Clark (7th Dec 2008)

Top ten just the ticket for Clark

FIA World Rally Championship
Wales Rally GB, 5-7 December 2008
Final Day Report

Scotland’s Barry Clark signed off his first season in the FIA World Rally Championship with a superb top-ten spot at Wales Rally GB.

With treacherous sub-zero conditions making it one of the toughest rallies of the season, the 26-year-old from Ellon produced a mature performance across the three days of the championship finale to finish tenth - just one place behind team-mate and Britain’s only full-time WRC driver Matthew Wilson.

Having started the final day in 11th – and with fellow Brit Wilson in his sights – Clark was eager to push on and try and catch those ahead of him in the points positions. He made a bright start by closing the gap on Wilson to under one minute after the first stage, SS16 Rheola.

However, with icy conditions making grip hard to find Clark endured a number of dramatic moments as he and co-driver Paul Nagle tackled the following stage at Port Talbot. As a result he made a tactical decision to ease off and steered clear of major trouble to bring home his Stobart Ford Focus WRC home unscathed and chalk up yet another impressive result.

The Scot has now made it three top-ten finishes on three different surfaces in 2008, proving he is capable of mixing it with the world’s best drivers on the global stage. He hopes his outstanding efforts will allow him to attract the backing he needs to mount a full World Rally Championship campaign next year.

Barry Clark said:
“It’s not every day you get to drive a world rally car on your home event so I really enjoyed the experience. Making it into the top ten when there was such a large, high-quality field competing in the final event of the year was always going to be a big achievement. Overall we have had a great year, three rallies and three top-10 finishes on three different surfaces. You have to remember I’m competing against the best drivers in the world who do this for a living, so I think we have proven a point this year. I would just like to thank Malcolm Wilson for all his help in making this possible and also everyone else who has supported me this season. Hopefully I will get a chance again next year as there is definitely more to come.”