The car is in one piece, which is amazing. We were hitting big jumps at big speed, car leaping into the air, sliding about on the greasy stages on our slick tyres.

We span backwards over a pile of logs. We weren't the only ones either, cars everywhere. Our first stage was the worst, heading the wrong way at a 'split'. That cost us dearly. Penalised to last place, we sulked back to the service area.

Some focused team work got us two places up the field. We were consistent, but that wasn't going to gain us anything beyond tenth unless someone crashed out. I saw my friend Mat snapping some pictures of our attack. It's a real buzz when I see my friends in the crowds.

Huge thanks go to Gary, our team manager, who was brilliant. Using his twenty years of motorsport experience he led and encouraged, sticking to his 'no criticism' philosophy.

I realised we couldn't beat tenth and asked Gary if we should back off. In a round about way he said 'no way! Go for it!' We did and gained a third fastest stage time of the day. I'll be listening to Gary more acutely in future.

We're going to build on our speed so expect a good result in Minehead. The team is working better now and feels pretty tight.

I'm looking forward to manning our Cancer Research Display in the Rochdale Exchange on Easter Friday and Saturday.

We managed our photo-calls better, ensuring our sponsors names were prominent in the picture. There has been some concern that we could do better on this front so I've had some training with Daihatsu's press officer. I'll be putting that into action and anticipate some more excellent press.

We'll be in Somerset next month with new-boy mechanic Simon Heenan. Our accomodation standards are falling. We'll be staying in a youth hostel. The last B and B had its own (green filled) swimming pool! And after that we're camping.

ENDS

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