Welsh ace Simon Hughes recovered from a troubled start to put in the performance of the day on this weekend's Woodpecker Stages Rally.  22 year old Hughes made history as the youngest ever Welshman to drive a state of the art 'World Rally Car' competitively - and the Colwyn Bay ace rose to the challenge magnificently with a stirring comeback drive to second overall.Simon and Ammanford co-driver Ieuan Thomas were piloting a ProSpeed Motorsport run Skoda Octavia WRC Evo 3 for the first time, and were keen to put in a good showing on the highly popular BTRDA National Rally Championship event, based in Ludlow.  Well known for being an event dominated by some very talented local drivers, Hughes knew that there would be no time to gently ease his way in to the new car with just 44 stage miles on offer.Unfortunately, the Skoda was to find itself choked due to noise regulations for the rally on the opening stages, resulting in a massive drop of engine power.  Hughes struggled to overcome the problem, and found himself languishing in an uncustomary Top 50 position.  The ProSpeed team quickly rectified the problem on the Dunlop Tyres and Atlas Communications backed machine, and Hughes was able to set about climbing his way back up the field.Climb he did - Hughes took on the best of the locals in a straight fight and soon began hitting the top of the timesheets in the Czech machine.  The hard charging Welsh duo and the distinctive exhaust note of the Skoda were quickly grabbing the attention of the leaders and the spectators as Hughes set a string of fastest times to close in on rally leader and 2004 winner John Perrot.  Just three seconds would separate the pair going into the final stage of the rally, Bringewood.  Hughes charged, but Perrot countered.  Simon went fastest but could only better Perrot's time by two seconds, as the Leominster man took a very well deserved victory.It was all smiles for Simon and Ieuan though, as Hughes reflected on a job well done:'It was an awesome experience to drive the car today' said Simon.  'The level of grip we had through the car and the Dunlop's gave me a lot of confidence after the first couple of stages, and then I was able to get into a good rhythm with the car.  I had hoped that we could put in a good performance prior to the event, but I must admit I was delighted that we could battle for the lead on the final stage.  It was a great drive from John and we so nearly nicked the win - but it just wasn't to be.  We dropped nearly 50 seconds over the first two stages with the exhaust problem, so without that - I'm sure the result would have been a bit more interesting for us perhaps!I must say thanks to Tom Hogan at Atlas Communications for his ongoing support, and I'm really hopeful that I can get another outing together in the car before the end of the year.  It was also great to reward the efforts of ProSpeed Motorsport with their best result in the UK for the car so far.'