Welshman Elfyn Evans and Andrew Edwards have taken an emphatic first victory on home soil, as they won Bulldog International Rally North Wales, second round of the 2011 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship.
The 2010 Pirelli Star Driver winners lay second on the opening four stages, but moved ahead of early leaders Adam Gould and Seb Marshall as the event moved close to the twenty two year-old driver’s home.
Five fastest stage times were enough to leave the Impreza pair just under eighteen seconds clear of championship leaders David Bogie and Kevin Rae, who return to Scotland with a two point lead at the top of the points table.
Evans was typically modest at the finish in Welshpool, where the sun broke clear of light clouds in time for the finish ceremony at the town’s Livestock Centre. “We’re really pleased and surprised a win has come so soon in such a long championship, but we’ll take it a rally at a time. Everything has worked well today and we have to thank Pirelli for such a great opportunity.”
Bogie and Rae, who also lead the MSA Scottish Rally Championship, had a fight on their hands with Gould as the event progressed, passing the Bristolian on stage six after he struggled to get his Impreza to turn in.
The positions reverted after stage eight though and it looked for a while like the championship would be tied between Bogie and Evans, but Gould slipped back to third on the penultimate stage after an under-bonnet fire, losing another eleven seconds on the final test. At the finish he considered himself very lucky to have made it all, even pushing the smoking car through the finish arch and handing Bogie his two point advantage.
Dulux Trade MSA British Formula 2 Rally Championship
The Dulux Trade MSA British Formula 2 Rally Championship points table retains its International feel at the top and although Estonians Siim Plangi and Marek Sarapuu stay on top of the front wheel drive runners, it is with a margin of just a single point to joint second place.
The crew battled hard in their Autosport Technology-run Twingo, but the R2 car was no match for the two new additions to the fight for F2 honours. Irishmen Marty McCormack and David Moynihan debuted the Citroën DS3 on British gravel and seemed to have the legs on Mark Donnelly’s equally new Clio, both Rally 3 combatants.
However the Renault pilot and his co-driver Barry McNulty reeled in their compatriots and by stage seven had eked an advantage of 0.8 seconds. McCormack was having none of it, re-taking the lead on the next stage, but the battle raged right to the finish, with the lead changing twice more before it was settled in favour of Donnelly.
He admitted that he had gone off the road on the penultimate stage and was amazed to have still beaten McCormack, entering the final test just 0.2 seconds clear. A stall from the Citroën driver at the start line of the very last stage could have been the decider, but both were pleased with their new French steeds and are looking forward to the next encounter.
Fiesta SportTrophy / Rally 2
A somewhat distant third went to another Irishman Craig Breen and his Welsh co-driver Gareth Roberts. They did take maximum points in the Fiesta Sport Trophy though, bagging top spot in the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship Rally 2 class to boot.
Dulux Trade MSA British Teams Rally Championship
With Plangi’s Autosport Technology Finnish team-mate Mikko Pajunen taking fourth place in the BRC Teams points, the multicultural outfit extends its lead at the top of this table. M-Sport Ford took top points here in Wales by virtue of Breen’s excellent result, but John MacCrone had a driveshaft failure and retired, leaving Breen alone.
586 Sport’s Callum Black was another scoring points on his own, but as the Brackley team won’t have a second car until the Jim Clark Rally, it was always going to be a solo effort. Team C2R2 Max had a nightmare event, Joe McGonigle forced to withdraw before the start after a huge shunt in Ireland, his countryman Desi Henry suffering with a sick engine that caused his retirement at first service.
Pirelli Star Driver
With the 2010 Pirelli Star Driver Evans proving the worth of the prize, the nominee from this event was understandably delighted to receive his yellow jersey. Mark Donnelly’s cool head under pressure and swift adaption to the Clio R3 was sufficient to impress the judges and he took the accolade on the podium in front of Greenlight TV’s cameras.
– Credit: www.rallybrc.co.uk.