By 
PHILIP Allen enjoyed a weekend to remember in Latvia where he achieved a podium finish in his first ever snow and winter event at Rally Aluksne.
The Cookstown man brought his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 home in third place overall and had it not been for a badly-timed puncture on the final day, he could well have taken second, if not challenged WRC regular, Martins Sesks, for the overall win.
Despite that setback and the steep learning curve of driving on studded tyres for the first time, Allen maintained his pace against the local specialists to secure a debut winter event podium with a third placed finish and he admits, after overcoming initial doubts over grip levels in snow and ice, he thoroughly enjoyed the experience in Latvia.
“It was deadly craic, brilliant!” he beamed. “It was very good, very enjoyable. I wish I had done it years ago. The sensation is unbelievable; fifth gear you turn it in and you’re full sideways.
“Full sideways in fifth gear is something else but getting over the initial feeling or doubt because it’s a hope [that the car does what you want]. But once you get over that initial feeling, it’s grand.”
As enjoyable as the whole experience was, Allen admits that there are still some ‘what if’ moments from his winter rally debut.
“We ran wide and broke a damper and got a puncture, and in the last stage we touched a snow bank and got snow in the intercooler and she wouldn’t go over 20mph, so I dropped two minutes,” he said.
“Other than that, we would have been second or won the rally, but the two mistakes hindered getting that position.”
Allen is going back to Latvia next week to compete in another winter rally as part of his preparation for another busy season ahead in the European Rally Championship where he’s hoping to have a less dramatic campaign.
Big crashes blighted his efforts last term and he admits he needs to dial things back in 2026 in order to achieve his aims.
“This year [2025] we showed good signs of speed, but I just struggled. Some of my pacenotes maybe are a bit optimistic and the accidents I had, everyone of them apart from Barum [Czech Republic] was my own error with the pacenote being too optimistic,” observed Allen, who is planning on switching to a Rally2 Toyota Yaris in 2026.
“This year I’ll either have to dial them back a bit or get a gravel crew to check them because see when you’re making pacenotes for 500 corners it’s hard to get everything right.
“But when we got stages together we were putting in top three/four times, which is encouraging. It’s nice and I suppose that’s what keeps me coming back. When it comes together there is a glimpse of hope.
“That’s what gives me encouragement to come back because sometimes the pace isn’t far away. But if we reign it back five or 10 per -cent, I might get consistently in the top five and the results will come at the end of an event better.”
