The prologue

The Croatia Trophy always begins with a competition on the first day which determines the running order for the following day’s stage. This year the Prologue consisted of a predominantly fast and dry circuit with cars being released three at a time to race for position. Muddy areas made choosing the right line important and there was one potential 3-lane winching point made as slippery as possible by the organising team by adding thousands of litres of water. This, however, proved no real obstacle to the majority of participants whose vehicles possessed enough low end torque to blast up the ascent without winching.

Positioning yourself in the table of results for the prologue is something of an art. Make the fastest time and you’ll be first away tomorrow – but is that a good thing? You’ll be pioneering the route and possibly missing markers and making navigational mistakes, which will affect your stage times. Going from near the back of the field, particularly when there are fifty or sixty other competitors carving up the route before you, will make navigation easy but the route will be more difficult. There’s also the possibility of traffic jams at constricted winching points and – God forbid -  someone might break down in front of you and completely block the route for minutes at a time.

Received wisdom from some experienced Trophy drivers has it you should aim to complete the prologue somewhere between tenth or fifteenth, where the route has been well defined by your predecessors and those in front of you will be fast and experienced so you won’t be held up. Or, what the hell, maybe it’s better just to go for it and leave the pack behind? It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow…

RANKING