All Wheel Drive Club - Croatian Trophy Update

Day 1

The event started on Friday with mixed fortunes for team AWDC Malta. The starting grid for the prologue/pole position was decided with a draw. Adrian was lucky enough to pickup 4th while Stefan managed a 13th place while Maurice draw number 17. It wasn't Kenneth's luck number as his team picked number 45 from the hat.  This meant that while the teams in front found the going easier, the teams at the back of the starting grid found a somewhat different environment. To use Kenneth's words "By the time we got to the off-road parts we found a 'soppa' waiting for us not mud" Pole results put Stefan, first of the Maltese in 11th position. Adrian was next in 13th. Maurice and Kenneth only manages a 45th and 47th place respectively.

Day 2

The vehicles started according to the results from yesterday's prologue. Adrian had a very steady run and finished relatively easy. The same cannot be said for Stefan who hit a tree stump that was hidden in the mud. This resulted in extensive damage to the front of the vehicle with a bent front end. This meant that they had lost all traction at the front transforming the vehicle in a 2WD. This could have spelt disaster for the team hadn't it been for Maurice's Team. They showed huge team spirit when they decided to stop and help Stefan finish the race.  Both teams finished the race at about 23:00hrs, a good 15 hours of pulling and winching and 10 hours behind the leaders. As soon as Stefan got back to base he found his backup team from Kamoy Engineering  waiting. By 9 am the following morning they had completely replace the front end of the vehicle. Kenneth had a good day without any problems, the ideal situation for an endurance race. 

Following these mishaps the teams were in for a surprise. It turned out that only 26 vehicles managed to complete all the Route Checks with Stefan being the only Maltese team to do so. This was a huge moral boost as they found themselves in 30th position. Maurice was rewarded for his efforts helping Stefan the previous day and placed 29th. Adrian who had missed a Route Check managed to place 32nd while Kenneth placed 47th.

Day 3

Day 3 is composed of 2 events Trophy Day and a night stage. For the trophy day teams are grouped in fours and thanks to the current classification it meant that Maurice, Stefan and Adrian were in one team. Kenneth and his team had a very successful run and finished 2nd in the Trophy Day. As Kenneth's always smiling co-driver Neville told us later  "Communication was difficult with the other teams but we found a common language off-road".

The night event went smoothly for all the Maltese teams. And the current classification was proof of that with all with most of the teams moving up the provisional standings. Adrian was now 14th overall, followed by Stefan in 20th position. Maurice had a small setback that moved in back a couple of places to 32nd while Kenneth recover more than 10 positions and is now in 34th place. After the night stage Alistair co-drive for Kamoy racing had these words for us " At night the co-driver has to pay a lot more attention to the route, but the off-road wasn't that hard. Moderate, I would say.

Day 4

Monday was an uneventful day, with a short stage after the long trophy day. All Maltese teams successfully completed the stage and although we don't as yet have official results our correspondent Mark Schembri , had this to say "Adrian and Stefan finished the day's racing early which augurs well. Maurice and Kenneth also had good runs but it's still too early."

Maurice, our Croatian Trophy veteran had these words of wisdom for us "The Trophy starts now! It's an endurance race and finishing every day is vital. All 4 Maltese teams are still in the run." The Croatian Trophy runs until Friday and Team AWDC Malta will be back on our island Monday. Best of luck guys.

Team AWDC Malta is made up of

Kamoy Engineering Racing Team

Driver: Stefan Mallia

Co-Driver: Alistair Caruana

Team M 

Driver: Maurice Farrugia

Co-Driver: David Abdilla

Ciappella Racing Team

Driver: Adrian Bezzina

Co-Driver: John Zammit

Coleiro Racing Team

Driver: Kenneth Coleiro

Co-Driver: Neville Ciantar