RTG Hanoi Daily Dispatch - for website 2 - Flipbook - Page 48
day 27: Hạ Long Bay and Hà NộI, 23 February 2024
Photos: gerardbrown.co.uk
Daniel Sauter and Martin Ruebel/Severin Senn, 1938 Chevrolet Fangio
Peter and Louise Morton, 1972 Rover P6
When the slipping and sliding had finished it was time
to bring the cars under the finishing arch and give the two
winners, Peter and louise morton in the Classics and daniel
sauter and severin senn in the Pre-war Category, a round of
applause, with a youth band providing some extra decibels.
after the finish line celebrations we handed the keys
over to mark roberts from Cars and boarded an express
coach to the sofitel legend metropole in central hanoi for
the gala prizegiving dinner. Between courses rally director,
Fred gallagher, proclaimed he was more than happy with
the way the second RtG Marathon had played out.
“The Road to Hanoi has been rescheduled twice, thanks
to Covid and unrest in myanmar but, after the last four
weeks on the road, i think that we can say it was worth
the wait. i’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself and it’s clear that
everyone else has too.”
Fred went on to thank the RtG team for putting in the
hard work. “We’ve also had some great support on the
ground from our travel partners who have made every
border crossing as easy as could be imagined.”
Clerk of the Course, mark appleton, was quick to praise
Kim Bannister’s hard work in putting together such a great
route and the spirit in which the competitive element was
tackled by the crews. “there have been some long days and
some rough roads but i think that south east asia was a
great place to stage a Marathon event.”
Kim Bannister added “this is my first event with RtG and
i’ve really enjoyed working with the team to put together
what has obviously been a great rally”.
Peter and louise morton, winners of the Classics Category,
were naturally delighted. louise explained “We’ve had an
accurate trip meter, a reliable car, and a big dose of luck
which have all played their part”. Peter added “the rally gods
have smiled on us, lots of our competitors have suffered
mechanical issues but we’ve been fortunate. it’s been a great
event with plenty of rest days in some lovely places, the sort
of places you really wouldn’t want to just drive through”.
Whilst daniel sauter and severin senn physically took the
chequered flag and sprayed the victory fizz, we mustn’t
forget martin ruebel who left us in vientiane, just before the
Chevy hit a tree on the stadium test! despite this mishap,
daniel was delighted with his win and lavished praise on
the route, the organisation and his fellow competitors. “i
like Marathon events, i like to drive long and fast. this
definitely won’t be my last such rally.”
mark, with loren Price, led the distribution of prizes
including two discretionary awards. the spirit of the rally
was scooped by newcomers to endurance rallying, Clive
hopkins and Charles gooch, for wholeheartedly throwing
themselves into the event. the against all odds trophy
was taken by enrico Paggi and Federica mascetti, who
battled back from three blown head gaskets and a damaged
cylinder to make the final two tests and the gala dinner.
as the plates were cleared, the two winning crews
generously announced they’d put their credit cards behind
the bar and the night section could continue at pace.
www.rallytheglobe.com
