From the first stage, the 2013 champions topped the time sheets and, in the end, came home nearly two and a half minutes ahead of second placed Jersey crew Jeremy Baudains and James Ollivro, also in an Escort MK 2.
Leonard and Humphries also saw off five-times winner and pre-race favourite UK crew of Simon Mauger and Brian Cammack, attempting to defend their title, who struggled to match the leaders’ pace, crashing out in the early stages. This year’s event proved hard on cars, with only 33 cars from an entry of 72 getting to the finish.
Commenting on his second title, Leonard said: ‘We’re delighted to win our second title.
‘The stages were dry for the whole event which suited us well. We pushed hard from the off and were able to gain an early lead, which we built on throughout the two days. We backed off a bit towards the end to save the car but then Jeremy and James came back at us so we had to up our game again. Overall, it was a great event and well-organised.’
Humphries added: ‘It was a tough event again this year with some really demanding stages. We had to be on it from the start to eke out an advantage. We had some major issues with the gearbox and front suspension before the rally started, but thanks to the hard work of our pit crew we got it sorted and the car ran like dream for the whole event.’
Second for the second year in a row was the very experienced Jersey crew of Baudains and Ollivro.
Commenting on his second podium finish in two years, Baudins said: ‘Once again this proved to be a very testing rally. It was dry throughout and the pace was very quick. To be competitive you have to be on the edge but still in control.
‘We had a great event, could not quite match Stevie and Sion’s pace but had enough in hand to hold off Ian Godney and Paul Brown in their Subaru. We’re very pleased with our result.’
Ollivro added: ‘It’s a tough event to navigate but enjoyable. My biggest challenge was keeping Jeremy under control in St Ouen, his home parish where because he knows the roads so well he tries to drive at 110 per cent. We pushed as hard as we could but could not match Stevie and Sion. We are delighted to make second place again this year though.’
In third was the UK crew of Godney and Brown, in a four-wheel drive Subaru Impreza WRC.
Godney said: ‘Jersey is a tough event, on a par with the best of the UK rallies we compete in. Only the Irish rallies are harder, largely because the stages are the same difficulty as Jersey but longer.
‘Given that we did not get past the first stages last year we started cautiously to get the feel of the event and how the car was performing. As our confidence improved we pushed on and are delighted to have finished in the top three.’
Brown added: ‘We could not match the pace of the lighter, more powerful Escorts in the dry, as they could use their power to the full and the extra grip of our four wheel drive was no real advantage. However after last year, third is a brilliant result and we will be back again to try to go two places better.’
The most entertaining crew of the rally was Darryl Morris and Steve Gully in a MK 2 Escort. They drove a brilliant event, power sliding their way through the stages and entertaining the crowds to take fourth overall as well as winning Class C. A commendable result given that Morris was seriously injured in a crash during the 2013 event.
Winner of Class A was Ian Barnard and Steve Greenhill in a Vauxhall Nova, while Class B was won by Michael Amy and Lee Rogan in a Toyota Starlet. Pete Rayner and Ashley Trimble in an Escort MK2 topped the Class D finishers, and Class E was won by Elan Pritchard and Steve McPhee in a Ford Focus WRC who also took the overseas Crew title as well.
The front wheel drive class was taken by the ever impressive Andy Corner and Ade Camp in their manic Peugeot 205, which also managed seventh overall.
The club would like to thank all the residents along the stages for their generous understanding and patience, the sponsors, particularly Paperclix who have supported the event for 14 years, and the crews of St John Ambulance and Normandy Rescue.
Full results can be found on the Jersey Rally website.
