Day 2 - 2014 Croatia Trophy

Even though there was a break in the porous heavens there was to be no respite from sogginess and everyone knew how wet the woods were going to be. The big river crossing got named the Swimming Pool because that’s exactly what people had to do…

First away were the Yorkshire boys… and they were also the first to wander off. Near to the start they read the roadbook wrong, took a wrong turn and spent 50 minutes trying to find their way back. They started picking other teams back off but it all came to nothing when they broke their winch…

The Israeli monster that fell on its side in the prologue was doing fine to the first checkpoint where they joked with the marshall, asking if this was all the mud and water they had in Croatia… They weren’t laughing at the next checkpoint as the deep water drowned the electrics!

Also struggling at CP2 was Victor Horoshavcev as he went through CP2 3 times while trying to find the way. Eventually they had to ask the marshall… who wasn’t allowed to give directions.

On the other end of the fortune scale were the Belgian Reul brothers, Antoine and Benoit. They parked their 104 Land Rover and both waded into the water looking for firm ground. The 5 minutes they spend swimming around saved them much more time as they were the only team that didn’t need to winch through.

The Maltese Ciapella Garage team managed to find the deepest part of the crossing and although they didn’t get the fastest time are the stars of the video!

Another amazing team are the Peter Arends and Paul van de Linde. Their Land Rover 110 looks like it’s in the wrong class and that it would struggle even in Adventure, but they plod on and came out of the stage in an incredible 7th!

Sad news for the best looking car in the soggy field though. Philon Parpottas only got a few kilometres in before the transmission started failing. When they opened it up they found out that there was an oil seal missing from between the gearbox and the transfer case. They will be getting a refund from the supplier… but unfortunately they won’t get the time back…

Now comes the weekend and two stages of ‘spectator friendly’ action. The rain still hasn’t stopped though, so even the little stages are going to be very tough!