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Apart from the high average speeds Maximum Motorsports Dean Herridge pointed out the technical nature of the roads in the region. "It seems that every crest is followed by a tightening corner or an awkward camber," said Dean Herridge. "It's going to be tricky; it'll be very easy to arrive at a crest too fast or on the wrong line and for the outcome to be pretty messy."
After reporting a flat feeling to his engine during Friday's shakedown Herridge continued to report to his team that the flat-four boxer in his Subaru Impreza WRX is struggling on the high speed roads featured this weekend. "I'm not sure if it's a problem to be concerned about but the engine definitely feels a little asthmatic at the top end," explained Dean.
"We made a decision in getting here this weekend to sacrifice rebuilding the engine, so it's had four rallies worth of wear in it which is more than I've run for quite a while, so that probably has a lot to do with it. It just means that we're missing out to the others on the long, fast stages," Herridge added.
Organisers of the Great Lakes Rally opted during the afternoon to cancel the two remaining stages to manage safety concerns involving the ability to communicate with officials in the field.
Restarting Heat Two on Sunday Herridge was immediately locked in a tight fight with Spencer Lowndes over third position. At the midday service both drivers were separated by just three tenths of a second.
"I'm pretty happy today, the car feels good and I'm getting into a decent enough rhythm today. There are some stages that seem to suit us and others that just don't for some reason, so I'm pushing hard but not doing anything silly," said Herridge.
"My time on the first stage was pretty good, the delay in the start of the second stage though meant that the temperature increased and our tyres just weren't suitable, so we struggled through that one," Dean continued.
Concerns yesterday that his engine might be showing early signs of deterioration had caused Herridge's team concern, however a tweak to the Subaru's computer overnight appears to have resolved the feeling Herridge had reported. "We felt the engine was a bit flat, so the guys pumped it up a bit through the computer and so far its felt better."
In the end though Herridge was edged out of third for the weekend by a late surge from Toyota factory driver Neal Bates. "We can't be displeased with this weekend though, we missed out on getting onto the podium by about five seconds. The thing is the competition has really picked up in the last couple of events, guys like Glenney, Eli and Brendan Reeves," he added.
In the points race Herridge holds a solid third behind the two factory Toyota's of Simon Evans and Neal Bates, and retains the lead in the Privateer's title race.