JUSTIN DALE: I ALWAYS FELT PRIVILEGED TO BE DOING WHAT I WAS DOING
The sight of the iconic silver Peugeot tearing up the lanes and the forests of Great Britain 20 years ago often meant two things: Justin Dale was approaching, and Justin Dale was winning. Dale got his break by winning the Peugeot Challenge in 1996, and stuck with the French marque until 2002 when he almost beat Jonny Milner’s Toyota Corolla WRC to the British Rally Championship.
Like his contemporaries, who were all in the top class of British rallying, Dale was one of several drivers whose talent justified a shot in the WRC.
But like Mark and David Higgins, Martin Rowe, Gwyndaf Evans and Neil Wearden to name just a few, he got a chance but not enough of a break to go all the way.
Fading into the background after a partial WRC campaign with Hyundai in 2003, Dale returned to the British scene in 2006 in a RichardAsquith-run Renault Clio but, apart from a one-off course car appearance in 2012, hasn’t rallied since as he’s concentrated on his family and a new career.
That new career has kept him linked with Peugeot and the PSAGroup as he provides staff – including rally driver Cameron Davies and touring car racer Howard Fuller – to new car launches to train dealer staff.
Here, Dale reflects on his greatest hits and biggest misses, whether Elfyn Evans has what it takes to win this year’s world title and the experience of shaking down Mitsubishi’s World Rally Cars in the early 2000s. But first, we’ll start with the importance of that ’96 Peugeot Challenge success…
Question: Alot of people talk about the need for a one-make series to be reestablished in the UK? Would you agree?
Owen Campbell
Via email
MN:Also, how crucial was it for you in your early career?
“I think 100%: it was the only way to go effectively. It didn’t matter whether you had a preferred front-wheel drive, four-wheel drive or whatever car you were in, you used that as a platform. The good thing was it wasn’t just a one-make championship, there was a view to progressing. It wasn’t a case of you might get prize money, you get prize money yeah which obviously helps, but at the end of the year you had a prize drive. It was a way of hopefully opening up doors to do something else. I was obviously
