Natalie Barratt isn't displeased with her first assignment in the OMV World Rally Team. Even though the gearbox broke down on the seventh special stage of day one, the feisty Brit was able to finish the Propecia Rally New Zealand thanks to the SupeRally regulation. Thus she gathered valuable race kilometres, for right now the OMV driver mainly wants to get to know the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VII better. Only then will the hunt for points in the PCWRC begin.
Even though Natalie Barratt had been well prepared for the New Zealand Rally she still had to concede that testing and rally are two different pairs of shoes. Especially when one takes a look at the competition in the PCWRC – big names like Toshi Arai (Jap), Karamjit Singh (Mal), Nasser Al-Attiyah (Qa), Xavier Pons (Spa) or Marcos Ligato (Arg). Therefore the OMV driver has no reason not to be discontent with 12th PCWRC place out of 17 competitors. Even more so since she had been given a penalty of 10 minutes added to the average time for having missed special stages seven and eight. In the overall ranking the only female driver in the Rally World Championship reached 38th place.
Partial results already satisfying
Natalie Barratt can be proud of several partial results. For instance, the OMV World Rally Team driver soon found its rhythm and achieved very good times up to the gearbox damage. Thanks to the wizardry of the mechanics of Stohl-Racing a new gearbox was up and ready in time for the second leg. It was a serial gearbox, though, which means: as opposed to a geared gearbox one has to operate the clutch at each changing of gears – which obviously costs time. Barratt: “Thank god I got used to it rather fast. What's more important, I was able to go on – for each race kilometre is doubly important. Since I haven't driven a four-wheel car in over a year I still have to get used to this kind of driving.”
Moment of shock also on leg two
A further incident took place on the second day. The OMV World Rally Team slithered off the road on special stage 14 and damaged the front of the car. But the mechanics managed to repair the Mitsubishi within the allotted service time and the show could go on. Barratt: “It is important to carefully approach the limit. I have to ‘feel' the car. Only then will it be possible to be fast and safe.”
The next assignment of the OMV Team Natalie Barratt and Carl Williamson is at the Cyprus-Rally from 12th – 15th of May.


Tags: new-zealand, propecia, natalie, barratt, omv, gravel, debut,