BROADWAY based rally driver Gary Le Coadou has just returned with his Toyota Celica GT4 triumphant from the 78th Members Meeting after winning the inaugural Goodwood Super Special Rally Sprint.

The event was organised by the Goodwood Road Racing Club (GRRC) and is designed to put on a show to celebrate and honour the art of motoring and motorsport. There are several races held each day on the track with cars as old as a 1903 Mercedes 60hp taking part.

Following a successful trial at Speedweek last year, the Duke of Richmond invited 20 selected rally cars of varied machinery dating from the late 1970’s to the early 2000’s to take part in the first ever Goodwood Super Special Rally Sprint.

It was a tight and twisting course, using parts of the circuit and outfield to challenge the drivers with two stages run in opposite directions.

The first of two timed runs was made on Saturday evening, with spotlights and exhausts flaming, while the decider was in very slippery conditions on Sunday morning.

Stig Blomqvist held the overnight lead in his ex-Carlos Sainz Escort WRC with Gary just over a second behind. The World Rally Cars of Roger Duckworth and David Wright both encountered problems and Will Nicholls in his 2004 Subaru Impreza stalled on one of the tight hairpins.

Sunday morning brought much excitement as the World Rally Cars (WRC’s) tried to hunt down the Stig and Gary to take the top honours.

Stig had a spin on the extremely slippery circuit which then with Garys impressive second run saw him take the lead. However, with the WRC’s in hot pursuit he feared it would be short lived but with his solid cumulative Stage times Gary managed to hold on beating Will Nicholls by just 0.7s for the overall victory from the younger Group A & WRC cars.

Other cars ranged from Ford Escort Mk 2, RS200, Focus WRC through to Porsche 911, Lancia 037, BMW M3, Audi Sport quattro S1, Metro 6R4s and several WRC Subaru’s along with Gary’s Toyota Celica GT4.