WILLIAM Creighton is anticipating a thorough examination of his abilities at the Central European Rally (CET) this weekend, with the event marking the conclusion of his maiden FIA World Rally Championship WRC2 campaign.
Taking in stages that are spread across Germany, Austria and Czech Republic, the closed-road, tri-nation fixture has quickly gained a reputation among teams as being one of the most demanding on the calendar.
Grip and attrition levels vary widely on each country’s rural roads, with the route blending tight and technical forest sections and fast and flowing hillside moorland.
The weather also tends to prove a big curveball and often makes setting up a car before each special stage a real compromise for driver and co-driver.
Creighton has chalked up plenty of tarmac miles in his Motorsport Ireland-backed Ford Fiesta Rally2 since the start of the season, however, having tackled the North West Stages, the West Cork Rally, the Jim Clark Rally and Rally Croatia alongside Liam Regan.
The pair also tackled last month’s Rali Ceredigion in Wales as part of their British Rally Championship commitments and scored a first maximum score of the year to keep their hopes of winning that competition alive with one round remaining.
“It is mad to think we are rounding out our WRC2 season already,” said Creighton, who completed a successful pre-event test at the beginning of the week with engineers from M-Sport.
“It seems to have really flown by and that is probably because we have been really busy this year with both our World and British rally campaigns – but this is a really difficult rally to end our WRC year on.
“The Central European Rally has been widely billed as one of the most difficult events on the World Rally Championship calendar thanks to the changeable weather and very unpredictable road conditions, so staying out of trouble will be essential to a good result.
“Our focus for the weekend ahead will be on bringing everything we have learnt this year together and being progressive each day. We would like to finish with a strong rally and that is what we will be aiming for,” added the 26-year-old from Moira.
Comprising 18 speed tests totalling almost 190-miles, the first two Central European Rally stages take place on Thursday evening in the Czech Republic. The action remains there during Friday before switching between Germany and Austria on Saturday, and back to Germany on the Sunday.
A healthy WRC2 entry includes Yohan Rossel (Citroen C3 Rally2), who heads into the Central European Rally knowing victory is needed to keep his WRC2 title hopes alive, as well as team-mate Nikolay Gryazin, Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2), and fellow Irishman and Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy driver Josh McErlean (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) who has enlisted his cousin, Desi Henry, to help with gravel crew duties.
