Scott Pedder has put the disappointment of suffering a puncture during yesterday’s opening Leg of Rally de Portugal, and the subsequent three minute time loss, to power six places ahead on the WRC2 leader board today including claiming his first fastest stage time in the ultra competitive category.
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Pedder began the day tenth in WRC2, but a determined drive on the opening stage saw him set the fourth fastest time against front runners Teemu Suninen (Toyota factory test driver), Elfyn Evans (M-Sport factory driver) and Pontus Tidemand (Skoda factory driver).

​An exceptionally promising start to the opening Leg of the Rally de Portugal was blunted for Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt when they suffered a puncture on the second test of the day, dropping them well down the running order in the process.

“We went into the first stage pretty positive, I set what I thought was a pretty average sort of time, but we quickly realised we’d finished second fastest of the WRC2 runners,” said Scott after the opening stage of the day, the 27.44km Ponte de Lima stage.
“I think what’s the most positive, and the most surprising, is that this stage was cancelled last year for us so we’d never driven it at speed, where as the majority of the other WRC2 had contested it before.”
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The optimism was to be short lived though, just a matter of moments into the day’s second stage the right rear tyre popped off the rim of Pedder’s Skoda Fabia R5. “With over thirteen kilometres to go we had no choice but to stop and change it,” explained a clearly downcast Pedder. “We lost over two and a half minutes doing that alone.”
Having lost time Pedder was then forced to drive in the dust of slower competitors, further compounding his overall disadvantage to his major rivals.

But showing a true sense of Aussie grit and determination Pedder and Moscatt toiled away over the day’s remaining six stages to climb back into the top ten of the WRC2 contenders, and end the day 24th outright.

The most positive sign for Pedder during the day was his comparative stage times against those he considers the WRC2 favourites, including Elfyn Evans, Pontus Tidemand and Teemu Suninen. “When things have been going well we’ve been even closer to those guys than I had expected before the start of the weekend, so even though we’ve had some disappointment today I actually end the day feeling pretty pleased with how we’re progressing.”

“We have two long days of the rally left to go, anything can still happen and we’re still in with a fighting chance,” Scott commented. “Tomorrow’s Leg is about three times harder than today’s, with some really rough sections, so there is every chance of some attrition to the guys ahead of us.”

“Realistically I think we’re still in with a shot of a top five WRC2 finish if we can keep our noses clean. The guys at the front are running at such a fast pace there is every chance there could be a few retirements. If things go our a podium is still a possibility,” Pedder added.

Tomorrow’s second Leg of Rally de Portugal consists of three stages repeated in the morning and afternoon. The day starts with the 18.66km Baião stage, followed by the 26.31km Marão test and ramping up to the 37.67km Amarante as the conclusion to both loops.

​Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt have endured a rough and tumble start to their weekend at the Rally de Portugal, the opening Round of their 2016 WRC2 campaign.
 
Having completed two successful days of testing in their brand new Skoda Fabia R5 earlier in the week, along with their new team for 2016 from AutoTek Motorsports, Pedder and Moscatt had high hopes heading into this morning’s official shakedown stage only to see their world upended when they lightly rolled on the third run.

The World Rally Championship is returning to European soil this weekend with the Rally de Portugal. Based in the town of Matosinhos, to the north of Porto, and with the 19 special stages taking place across the north of the country this 368km gravel event promises to be a big test for all the entered teams.

And there will be plenty of ŠKODA Fabia R5s testing themselves, as our ŠKODA Motorsport pairings of Swedes Pontus Tidemand/Jonas Andersson and Czechs Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler are joined by no fewer than eight other Fabia R5 cars on the entry list.

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​Scott Pedder and Dale Moscatt return to the scene of their 2015 WRC2 debut next week at the fifth Round of the World Rally Championship, the Rally de Portugal.
 
Last year Pedder learnt that consistency and experience was the key to success during his five Round WRC2 campaign, and he’s confident that a new team and a switch to a Skoda Fabia R5 for 2016 will see him take another important step forward. 

​“Rally cars don’t tend to go far with a hole the size of a fist through the bottom of the engine,” exclaimed Scott on his return to the service park. “It looks like the rod has punched a hole through the block and taken the oil and water lines out with it.”
 
Pedder said there had been no sign in the lead up to the failure. “The first I knew it began to run loud, I thought maybe we’d broken the exhaust,” he said. “Then the windscreen was covered in oil and we knew it was the end of the rally.”
 
“It’s such a shame because the car is so unbelievable to drive, and up to that point we were going really well.”
 
Pedder and Moscatt were sitting comfortably in third, with a four and a half minute gap to Japanese driver Makoto Kawahara’s Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII in fourth. “The gravel this morning on the first stage was incredible thick, so to be within half a second a kilometre of the Skoda’s was actually quite surprising.”
 
“On the second I probably made the wrong choice on the tyre compound and it went off midway through the stage, then on the next the engine blew, and that’s it,” added Scott.
 
The Australian duo now look ahead to the Rally de Portugal, the opening Round of their 2016 WRC2 campaign in a fortnight’s time where they’ll be running a Skoda Fabia R5 identical to those campaigned in New Zealand by Gill and Kreim.