Tom Delaney returned to competition with a bang this weekend, on the Mid-Summer Stages Rally. The 15-year-old driver, partnered by Joe Cruttenden, was second in the Formula 1000 Junior category of the event following a three-month hiatus to complete his school exams.
Since the Lee Holland Memorial Rally in March, Tom has been concentrating on his GCSE exams, which recently finished. This meant that he was able to get back into action on the Mid-Summer Stages Rally, held at the Caerwent military base, having missed two rounds of the 2015 Formula 1000 Junior Championship.
Although he had been out of the car competitively for some three months, Tom hadn't been idle; he had undergone driver tuition with former BTRDA Production Cup champion and works Proton FIA World Rally Championship driver, Tom Cave, to get him match-fit for his return to the driving seat.
The help from Cave, as well as from time spent testing his Suzuki Alto 1000c car, prepared and run by his father's company Specialist Vehicle Preparations, stood him in good stead.
The advice was to drive at 80% capacity throughput the event, which is notorious for tight and twisty lanes around the military camp littered with high - and car-punishing - kerbs.
Tom adopted this strategy and at times, found the going frustrating, since he could see that his times were not on par with other drivers. However, it was pointed out to him that the pace of those ahead was not sustainable and this soon proved to be the case, with the cars both ahead and behind him in the class standings crashing out of the rally, as a result of driving too hard.
As a result, he was able to complete the rally, trouble and damage-free, in second place in the F1000 Junior class. However, the driver who won and the driver immediately behind him are both 17 years of age and hence, drive every day on the road, making Tom's achievement all the more notable
Commenting, Tom said; "It was really good to get back in the car after such a long time out. The day I spent with Tom [Cave] was really useful and both he and Dad told me to drive neat and tidy and not push at all and this was definitely the right plan at Caerwent. It was really tricky - very narrow and lots of kerbs everywhere - and I am really pleased to get second."
Dominic Delaney said; "I am really pleased and proud of Tom's result this weekend. He drove a really careful and mature rally and while at times it was frustrating to see that other drivers were faster, the strategy paid off. The drivers pushing really hard all had problems whereas Tom stayed out of trouble and the result came, thanks to that approach.
"In fact, I had people coming up to me throughout the day complimenting him on how neat and tidy he was, again demonstrating that in a tricky rally like this one, you have to use your head as well as your right foot to get a good result."
The series is now at its mid-point, with five events already run and five to go until the 2015 champion is declared
