Tragic news from Northern Ireland. Timothy
Cathcart lost his life in an accident on Friday night on the Ulster Rally and
co-driver Dai Roberts was airlifted to hospital where he is reported to be in a
'stable' condition.
The Cathcart name is known to us all, with
Timothy's Dad Ian and Uncle Roy already well known in the sport, but for this
to happen to a 20 year old is just unthinkable.
The crew crashed on the third stage. When news
emerged of the fatality, the top crews waiting to start Leg 2, just switched
off and pushed their cars into parc ferme while the organisers took the
decision to cancel the rally.
Timothy contested his first full season of
rallying last year in a Ford Fiesta on the British Championship, and we first
saw him over here on the Border Counties having
a run out in the new car to gain some additional experience. Then he was
back for the Jim Clark.
This year he switched to a Citroen DS3 for his
British Championship campaign and we saw him again on the Jim Clark and the Scottish,
but it hasn't been a good year for the sport, and this latest news is quite
simply inconceivable.
He was a polite and lovely young man and our
thoughts must be with his family and friends now. Also we must think of the
family of Dai Roberts. Goodness knows what they are going through just now,
having lost Dai's brother Gareth to a rally accident two years ago.
