The bright final accord!

Dmitry TAGIROV and Anna ZAVERSHINSKAYA continued their winning series with their Latvian-prepared Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. The overall victory at the final round of Russian Rally Championship – “Novorossiysk Rally Russia” became the first national championship round win in their mutual career! As that event had also scored for FIA European Rally Cup (EEZ), that result had immediately brought the crew to the third position in the general classification of that European series.

Novorossiysk Rally Russia is the final round of the national championship for last few years. Though there is no special definition of “final” in RRCh (all the events have equal status), most of the competitors regard that rally for themselves as the real series’ final, the bright and deciding event. Here one can usually see not only the crews, who still have something to decide in the general classification, but also those, who just come to do a difficult, demanding and beautiful rally. And also that is a good way to catch the final days of a “velvet season” on a Black Sea shore, the final farewell of the summer weather.
But that time it was hardly possible to speak about any “velvet”! Exactly the same date, but a year ago, when Dmitry Tagirov was fighting for the win in the Russian Rally Cup-2009 – the weather in the Tuapse area (that is just 150 km from Novorossiysk) was dry and sunny, and dust was the main problem for the competitors. Who could expect that now the nature would prepare such a sad surprise! The heavy flood in Tuapse area took the lives of about 20 people, destroying the villages, and Novorossiysk was namely flooded by a torrential shower on the day of the rally start. The city traffic was stuck in a huge jam for half of the day and in some places one could see up to 20cm of water on the streets’ asphalt. That made the organizers to shorten the starting ceremony down to a brief introduction of the participants, and to cancel the part of the first day’s distance due to the poor condition of the roads. Though the rain was over and didn’t return that week-end any more, these parts of the route were badly destroyed. The water-splashes became the impenetrable torrents, the surface became so muddy and slippery, that even extra distance was cut from the Leg 1 for the 2WD cars – they definitely had no chance to pass through these mountain roads.
In that situation it became the task number one to keep caution and concentration, to preserve the car – as the smallest mistake in choosing the safe pace led to a vehicle’s damage or getting stuck. Few strong competitors didn’t avoid the problems, destroying the engines or electronics of their cars in water-splashes, and though some of them returned for the second day under the SupeRally regulations, there was no chance for them to fight for high positions any more.
During the second part of the season Dmitry and Anna had already find that balance between speed and safe driving, and that gained experience was their big benefit that time. They managed to avoid any unnecessary risks and completed the first day at the leading position. But it was not a “grandmothers’” driving, it was a hard work, as on the dry parts Dmitry was going as flat out, as it was possible. But he managed to change the rhythm for few times on every stage to slow down to a “pedestrian” speed, passing the dangerous places.
On the second day the roads became much drier, and the Ekaterinburg-based driver managed to protect his position, keeping the safe distance from the runners-up. The speed increased, and it was much more a real rally, suiting Dmitry much better.
All together, the crew of Dmitry TAGIROV and Anna ZAVERSHINSKAYA set 4 of 9 best stage times on that event and completed the rally more than 3 minutes faster than the crew of the highly experienced veteran Dmitry Zorin.
There are still some things for the crew to remember and tell about that difficult event, but at a moment it is better to remember the words of one of the strongest competitors, Marko Tempestini (the Italian defended his FIA EEZ Cup title for the second time on that event with his Peugeot 207 S2000 car): “I was going second on the road, just behind Dmitry and Anna. What I can say, watching their lines, that only a crew with perfect pace-notes, with perfect understanding between the driver and co-driver, and with a complete control of the situation could go with such lines!”
Such a compliment from the experienced competitor at the post-event media conference is a big honor for the crew, which completed their first full season in the national championship. The work on mutual understanding, on the pace-notes and the tactic planning for the race – were the main tasks for Dmitry and Anna during the entire season. And that work gave the results! The winning series, launched by the crew at the national Cup events, was followed with a clear victory at the final event of the Championship!