25-year-old Matt Edwards with Co-Driver Sam Collis took his maiden rally victory on Sundays Mid-Wales Stages Rally in Newtown, following a late package offered by Geoff Jones Motorsport to contest the event in a Subaru Impreza N12.
The ‘Swift Group Ltd’ and Dunlop Tyres-supported driver took fastest times on all six stages to win the event by a staggering margin of nearly 3min, despite this being the Welshman’s first outing in a four-wheel-drive car since a 3rd overall on the 2008 Cambrian Rally; this drive being another impressive showing in an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar territory.
With a late morning start from Newtown, the pairing; normally found in a 1.4 engine MG ZR this year, would lead the field away as car 1 on the event followed by several World Rally Cars, set for 5 fantastic stages in the Hafren and Myherin forests near Llanidloes. As is now seemingly customary for Edwards, he would immediately get to grips with his new stead and promptly set a time 25 seconds faster than anybody else through the first nine mile stage, and followed that up with a further 16 second blitz of his rivals in the following test to head to service with a 41 second lead;
“We seemed to settle in to a really good rhythm straight away which is always important, and I felt comfortable with the pace and handling of the car not long after the start of the stage, so we built on that as the stage progressed and it seems to have done the trick” exclaimed Edwards as he stepped out of the Prodrive built machine. “The car is a lot more powerful yet progressive than the last Subaru I drove in ’08’ but it’s a big challenge to totally change your driving style for four wheel drive again just a week after doing an event in two wheel drive car, but with the package offered by Geoff Jones to his customers, we are able to do a few miles testing beforehand to ease the transition”, he explained.
The afternoon would see two more long stages in Myherin then a final blast round the Sweet Lamb ‘Spectator Stage, so with two fresh Dunlops on the front of the car and working well, the duo would head off to consolidate their lead and aim to gain more experience of the radically different car. Yet the on-form crew would slice a further 30 seconds out of their closest challenger in just 9 miles, finding the fast and flowing stages to their liking despite having no experience competing on many them prior to this event; a feat that was repeated on the penultimate stage, with a good flowing drive netting them a further 39 second cushion.
After one more service interval and the final four mile Sweet Lamb Stage completed in another fastest time, Edwards and Collis would return to Newtown with a winning margin of 2 minutes 51 seconds; Edwards first overall rally victory;
“I’m obviously over the moon with what’s happened today, as besides the result, we stuck to what we planned to do, drove our own rally to get some experience of the car, and just kept it clean and tidy without making mistakes, but that also usually ends up being the fastest way anyway it seems! I owe a huge thanks to Geoff Jones Motorsport in making this event happen, also The Swift Group, Dunlop Tyres, Competition Car Insurance and Vulcan Fasteners, all of whom have helped us to the extent it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, so I am pleased for them that we have justified their effort and input with the win! I’d also like to thank all at Newtown and District Motor club for their efforts in what has been a hard week for all involved in last week’s tragic accident involving Martyn; the stages were fantastic and he would have been proud!”
Edwards and Collis will resume their BTRDA 1400 campaign on the Quinton Stages on July 10th, buoyed by two impressive wins in two weekends. For more information on Matt, please visit www.merallysport.com, for news reports, in-car footage and photos, and for The Swift Group Ltd’, www.swiftgroup.co.uk; Britain’s largest manufacturer of touring caravans, motorhomes and holiday homes. More information on Dunlop Competition Tyres can be found at http://www.mrtyremotorsport.co.uk
– Credit: M. E. Rallysport.