Adrian Linton (right) was the star of the Vaucluse Raceway on Saturday (March 17) when the opening round of the 2007 VRW RallySprint Cup was run to an experimental format, dubbed RallyChase. With his Vauxhall Astra sporting a smart new 'Subaru blue' livery, Linton set the fastest time of the day - 3 minutes 10.50 seconds - with a focussed drive in the third and final heat.

Despite a low turn-out - many drivers had been unable to ready their cars following mechanical problems during the previous Sunday's Barbados Rally Club March Gravel Stages - the experimental format was well-received by those who ran.

The track closely followed the configuration used for last November's Rallycross, with the addition of the sweeping right-hand curve in the north-east corner, bringing cars across the Hyundai Commercial & Industrial Bridge then south to the hairpin. Rather than starting in pairs side-by-side in the traditional RallySprint format, each Group of cars left the start-pad at intervals, completing three laps of the circuit.

For the untimed practice run, the interval was five seconds, but a drivers' meeting held before the first timed run agreed a longer interval of eight seconds, in light of the recent dry conditions creating some dust; there was then one qualifying run, three timed heats and a Group Winners Handicap.

(above) Adrain Linton driving in Freddy Gales' dust trail

Afterwards, Linton said: "The new format is interesting; there's nothing like a car in front of you to make you push that bit harder. The downside of a day like today was the dust kicked up by the car in front: if you were right on its tail it was OK, if you were a few seconds back it was tolerable . . . but the in-between bit occasionally got a bit hairy."

Until Linton's final run, the fastest time of the day had been set by Kirk Watkins, maintaining his record as the only driver to have contested every event at Vaucluse since the facility opened in August 2000. His Mitsubishi Lancer Evo V was missing second gear, but that didn't stop him topping the time sheets after the first heat with a time of 3m 13.70s, which he improved to 3m 10.90s in the second.

Watkins was grouped with Jonathan Still, who was running his BMW M3 with a different engine and new suspension set-up, and Harold Morley, who was still experiencing some transmission problems with his Subaru Impreza WRC (left). After losing time in the first two heats, Morley was faster than Watkins on the third run - he clocked 3m 11.00s - while Watkins carried too much speed into the southern hairpin on the first lap, running unusually wide on the exit, which cost him valuable time. Without that 'moment', he might well have bettered his second heat time and ended the day fastest.

Linton's victory came in the best-supported and most-competitive Group of the day, Modified 7; Roger Marshall (Hyundai Accent) was quickest in qualifying, then Greg Cozier (Ford Escort RS2000) set the best time in heat one, before Linton prevailed. Freddie Gale (Toyota Corolla RunX) and John Corbin (Toyota Corolla) completed this Group.

Former kart racer Spencer Hutchinson returned to competition after some years' absence, winning the Production Group; although he experienced some problems with his Peugeot 306 S16, he held on to beat Andrew Skeete (Mitsubishi Lancer), who lost time with a couple of crowd-pleasing spins, and Stephen Moore, whose Toyota Corolla had electrical problems. The fourth member of this Group, Rhett D'andrade failed to complete the practice run, after a mechanical problem tipped his immaculate new Toyota Starlet into a roll. William Branch won the Mixed Group, seeing off Ryan Wood (Toyota Starlet) and Shareef Walcott (Toyota Corolla).

In the Group Winners Handicap, Hutchinson set off first, 14 seconds ahead of branch, while Linton and Watkins left the start pad virtually as one, Linton just winning the drag up the startline straight. The order remained the same throughout, although the margins had come down considerably by the chequered flag, Hutchinson claiming the win. The Vaucluse debutante - he became the 200th competitor seen in action at the St Thomas facility since it opened - also won the Banks Pig'n'Likka Driver of the Day Award for a bold pass on Skeete during the third heat.

The second round of the 2007 VRW RallySprint Cup is scheduled for Saturday, April 14, with the final again being the opening event of the Barbados Rally Carnival, the VRW International RallySprint, over the weekend of May 19/20.