Last weekend, 20 year old Jonny Leonard collected his Hankook Junior Prize by taking to the stages of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) Belgium as part of a fully backed professional team. Now returned to his native Northern Ireland, we speak to him first about the whole experience.

Q. Boarding the plane to Belgium, what did you think lay in store – how did you visualise the event?

The Excitement was immense; I had no problems getting up that Monday morning!

There were however quite a few unknowns to be honest- 1^st IRC event,1^st time competing outside of Ireland 1^st time in the car, Only knowledge of the event was from on-board videos and advice from fellow competitors …. but I couldn’t wait to get there.
When we landed in Belgium I met Hankook Motorsport Manager Mike Patterson, he was very pleasant and got us sorted with our hire car and other bits & pieces.

Q. When you first arrived at Ypres, what was the procedure?

We first met with Toni Gardemeister and his navigator Tapio at rally HQ- it was a surreal experience meeting someone who you usually watch on TV , and now to be signing on with him at an IRC event!!

We then went for dinner with Toni, Tapio & Mike… chatted about the rally and the week that lay ahead.They were very easy to talk to and had a good sense of humour so that made things a little more relaxed,

Q. First job was the 2 day recce. What were your first impressions of the stages?

It was great to get out onto the 1^st stage to see for ourselves the type of terrain. It was pretty much as expected, smooth, fast tarmac.. but two long days lay ahead, we had almost 300 Stage km’s to recce, with the added dimension of only a two pass recce. Luckily we had brought an on-board camera so we made good use of that and put it in the recce car.

The stages were simple to recce in ways and quite difficult in others, we didn’t have so many bumps or crests to describe but with the flat land in the Belgian countryside it was difficult to pick up markers for braking points etc..

0Q.  How did the atmosphere change on Friday, Day 1 of the Rally?

Friday was a fairly late start as we weren’t due on the start ramp until 18:52.We went through various things with the team like set-up, re-fueling arrangements and wheel changing equipment.

I met quite a few motorsport journalists during the day which was great from a PR point of view.
Toni was kind enough to take time with me to look over my on-board camera of the shakedown stage: He gave me some advice on lines and cuts etc.. and we went on to discuss the set-up for the stages ahead. He was very helpful and gave me some confidence in my own opinion also.

Nerves started to build leading up to our start time, there were lots of spectators around the service area and everything was a bit hectic.

And finally we arrived at the much anticipated start of SS1.

Q. You suffered a broken Drive Shaft on Stage 1, how did you cope with that?

We were devastated! Jackie and I had put in a lot of effort in preparation for the event, it was a big prize, and there was lots of media interest. And all of a sudden the rally was over and no result!

Once we had come to terms with the initial disappointment of retiring from the rally Jackie checked the regulations to see if we could Super Rally.. And thankfully we could.

The team ensured the car was ready to be re-scrutineered and had all ready for us to tackle the Saturday stages.

Q. Returning to the rally on Saturday, how did you approach the event?

Saturday morning was a bit of a baptism of fire, conditions were very tricky as it had rained all morning and we were now running at the back of the field. The roads were extremely slippery as there was also a lot of muck pulled out from previous cars cutting the corners. We also had problems with catching cars in front.. on one stage we managed to catch 3 other competitors before the stage finish.

We settled in a little on the second loop as the roads were drying so there was one less element to contend with and thankfully on the longer stages the cars in front pulled over to let us past a little quicker.

With that aside I finally got down to concentrating on the driving, the sequential gearbox was great, very driver-friendly and the brakes although it took us a while to get the measure of them were fantastic.

After doing the two days of recce in left hand drive, and taking into account the few weeks I had driven LHD at home the transition wasn’t so difficult, for sure it was a little tricky at times but all in all I think I adapted fairly well.

Q.  Were there any particular stages, sections or moments that stick out in your memory?

I loved the fast flowing sections within so many of the stages, as a driver I get a real rush from the high speed stuff! It was also amazing the crowds that turned out to watch the rally, even the shakedown attracted huge crowds, the spectators definitely added to the experience.

We had a few small overshoots when getting used to the car but nothing major. With a result out of the question it would have been silly not to get the mileage and experience, so we pushed on a little but still kept it fairly safe.

Q. Were you happy with Saturdays Performance?

Yes I was happy with the performance, it’s a pitty we didn’t get the mileage on Friday which would have left us more comfortable in the car, but the 3 fastest fiesta times along with the fastest R2 time on one stage proved that we had the pace. Maybe a case of what could have been unfortunately, but that’s rallying!

Q. What is your overall opinion of the IRC Experience?

The whole experience was absolutely phenomenal! I thoroughly enjoyed the trip from start to finish! The team were very professional, and looked after us exceptionally well.

It was fantastic to have the opportunity work alongside Toni Gardemeister for the week …. And given the opportunity I’d do it all over again tomorrow!

Now that I’ve got the taste for these types of events I would love to compete at this level again. Ultimately though it boils down to funding, so I will be putting in a strong effort to get a package together for 2012!

In the mean time I am aiming to contest IRC Rally Scotland in October if I can secure the funding.

Q. Who would you like to thank?

-A massive thank you must go to Hankook for providing a prize of this calibre and ultimately for funding such a great initiative right from the start.

- Jackie my navigator put in a lot of effort behind the scenes, she really was a great help.

-A special thanks also to Mike Patterson who looked after us from start to finish.

- Toni and Tapio for their advice throughout the week and All the Team at TGS Worldwide

-Finally everyone who contributed to me winning the prize in 2010 and those who came out to Ypres to support us.