I am the guy that nearly got run down.
No, I was not in any real danger of being hit because I'm quick like a fox.

However, I feel certain that had I not jumped out of the way or had tripped and fallen down that I would have been hit or it at least would have been very close.
I think it would be appropriate to recount the incident here so it doesn't get distorted or blown out of proportion by second hand accounts. Paul Eklund posted a good account of it as he was an eyewitness. If anyone who witnessed it thinks I remembered something wrong please add your perspective.
For those that weren't there the service area was very long and the regrouping control and refueling area were at the opposite end of the service area to where Prodrive had set up. Oops, poor planning on somebody's part, but that doesn't give them an excuse to speed. Anyway, I observed Mark Lovell travelling towards the regrouping area at a speed way over the 30kph limit. Actually, everybody in the service area observed this. He was coming towards us at, I dunno, at least 35 MILES per hour, maybe more. Hard to say since we didn't have a radar gun on him. One event official who saw him told me he thought he was going up to 50mph. I don't know about that but it was obvious to everybody there he was going way too fast in the service area. At first he was travelling in the coned off lane on the right where he should have been. However, just prior to arriving at my position there was a car stopped in that lane so he swerved around it to the left, not slowing down at all. Engine pitch did not change. He was now travelling in the wrong lane and partially in the service areas just as fast as before. At this point I don't think I was the only one yelling at him to slow down. He wasn't slowing down so I stepped in front of the path of his car (I only had to take about two steps away from my truck) and waved my arms and yelled at him to slow down. I was directly in front of his car, there is no way he couldn't see me, yet he didn't slow down at all, engine pitch didn't change. He didn't slow down or make any move to avoid me so I jumped out of the way. I could have stood my ground longer but I really wasn't so sure he would have stopped. I ask you, what would most drivers do in that situation? They would have slowed down and might have even apologized. Lovell just sped by as I (and others) continued to yell at him to slow down.
This is not a case of one person's word against another's. This was witnessed by at least 15 people, perhaps 40. Even if they didn't see this particular incident most all of the people in service including several event officials witnessed him speeding, since he sped through nearly the entire service area.
I reported this incident to event officials and they asked for a written report which I gave them with signatures from about ten of the witnesses to the incident. After the rally I talked to enough of the stewards and officials to have a pretty good understanding of what happened in the penalty process and why the penalties were eventually rescinded. It would do no good to go into the details of that here. Suffice it to say that the stewards probably could have done things better and Prodrive were able to find a way to get the penalties dropped on a technicality.
I had a little talk with the Prodrive team managers after the event as I was upset that they seemingly got away unpunished. I wanted to let them know that I was the one their driver nearly ran down and they shouldn't be driving recklessly through service areas like that. I found their attitude to be very cavalier and they weren't about to admit that Lovell had done any such thing. In fact, the impression they were trying to give was that they didn't believe me or any of the dozens of other witnesses that this incident even took place. As far as David Campion was concerned if he didn't see it happened then it never happened. This isn't me reading between the lines this is responses to direct questions. I understand it's their job to make sure their drivers get the best finish possible and I can't fault them for making sure any penalties, etc, are administered according to the rules. But they seemed not to care that their driver was breaking the rules in the service area and potentially endangering others.
I got no apology. Just an attitude that they were annoyed at me because I reported the incident to event officals instead of coming and talking to them about it first...
In any case, I felt better after talking to them because I at least was able to express my concerns to them and in the end we shook hands and I think at least agreed we understood where each other was coming from. I did not have an opportunity to talk to Lovell about it.
What about the fallout? I know there are a lot event officials that are very upset about this. As well as a lot of other competitors and crew, etc. I think Prodrive and Subaru of America come out looking really bad because of this. This incident does not represent their company well. If they had just accepted their penalty and made an apology it would have been a very good PR move. By weasling out of the penalty on a technicality and claiming nothing ever happened, even though it was witnessed by LOTS of people they just made themselves look even worse. This only serves to perpetuate and legitimize the underlying feeling many people have that the Manufacturer teams can get away with whatever they want and that there is a different set of rules for them and another set for the privateers. If this had been a privateer team do you think they would have gotten away scott free? Ask Randy Zimmer or John Drislane that. The violations that they got kicked out of rallies for earlier in the year were not as dangerous or flagrant or witnessed by as many people as what Lovell did.
Subaru of America and Prodrive should view this whole episode as an embarrassment to themselves as far as I'm concerned. I hope they've at least learned from it and will make sure their drivers are more considerate and pay closer attention to the speed limits in service areas and elsewhere. I know that I and everyone else will be watching very closely...
Sorry this was so long but I feel strongly because I was kind of close to the situation...
-Dave Clark
(the other DC)