THE INCA TRAIL

the big South American adventure rally

Day 44: Puerto Madryn - Peninsula Valdes - Puerto Madryn

A relaxed day to give crews the opportunity to see one of the great sights in the world: the Valdes Peninsula is famous for its colony of whales, seals and elephant seals. It was a magical day, finished off in the evening with a barbecue beside a soda lake against a beautiful sunset. As with our visit to the Perito Moreno glacier, the photos will say it all.

Testing times

The circuit tests have been coming thick and fast recently, and crews are becoming very good indeed at holding consistent times. At Trelew Circuit, five crews put in a performance giving them four penalty points, four cars gained just three, David Garrett and Paul Kane both scored two, and Roberto Chiodi and Bill Secrest both scored one. Thirteen cars just one second per lap adrift. Not bad.

Results roundup: Classic Reliability Trial

The Classic Reliability Trial will finish Leg Three at Buenos Aires on Wednesday, but here is a roundup of some of the current overall positions at this stage.

Overall standings

In the Tester's Tankard competition, competed for by the main driver in each crew, and decided by performance on the circuit tests, top honours are currently shared between two drivers at each end of the age scale. Bill Secrest in the 1949 Ford Convertible and David Liddell in his 1971 Escort RS1600 have each accrued a mere 15 penalty points after eight circuit tests.

A little way behind comes Paul Kane, on 25 penalties, and then Paul Wignall on 27. John Bateson, on 28 penalties, makes up the top five.

The Stopwatcher's Salver - awarded to navigators for performance on regularities - is currently led by Jolijn Rietbergen, on 44.7 penalties, pursued by Colin Francis on 46.1. Richard Newman, in the event's oldest car, the 1929 Chrysler Model 25, has 49.8. Then there's a bit of a gap to Gerda Guliker (54.7), with David Brayshaw (72.9) holding onto fifth place ahead of Mary Kane.

Class leaders overall are as follows. The full overall standings as well as Leg 3 standings to date can be found in the results section of the HERO website. Leg Three results will be reported when the leg ends at Buenos Aires.

Class A Robert O'Hara / Richard Newman

Class B Alexa Scott-Plummer / Sue Shoosmith / Tony Humphries

Class C1 Paul Kane / Mary Kane

Class C2 David Reville / Jane Ranson / Anthony Ward / Caroline Ward

Class C3 Malcolm Pickering / Derek McConnell

Class C4 Allart Constandse / Cees Bruin / Jaap Kroon

Class C5 Renger Gulliker / Gerda Gulliker

Class C6 Bart Rietbergen / Jolijn Rietbergen

Class D1 Jan Smith Ian Brawn

Class D2 David Garrett / Sarah Born / Tony Humphries

Class D3 John Bateson / Colin Francis

Crews currently on medal status remain unchanged since we reported Anton aan de Stegge's loss of his Silver medal a few days ago:

Gold Robert O'Hara / Richard Newman

Gold Alexa Scott-Plummer / Sue Shoosmith / Tony Humphries

Gold Paul Kane / Mary Kane

Gold John Bateson / Colin Francis

Silver Bart Rietbergen / Jolijn Rietbergen

Bronze Renger Gulliker / Gerda Gulliker