Colwyn Bay's rally ace Simon Hughes produced a polished performance in icy conditions this weekend, as he grabbed a fine sixth overall on the Telford Winter Stages Rally.  Driving his new Ford Fiesta ST150 on gravel for the first time, Hughes was consistent in his improvement throughout the day, and such was the pace of the 22 year old Welshman, he finished the rally just ten seconds shy of fifth place in sunny but slippy conditions at the Sweet Lamb Complex near Llangurig.Partnering Hughes for the first time was Wrexham co-driver Jamie Edwards.  The 30 year old has co-ordinated Simon's PR work for the past four years and was making a one-off outing with Simon for the weekend.  The pair were looking forward to a close battle with the identical new Fiesta ST 150 of Nottingham's Tommi Walster and Andrew Sankey.  Both cars were being tested for the first time on the loose ahead of the Malcolm Wilson Rally, opening round of the new Ford Fiesta SportingTrophy series.With a heavy overnight frost leaving the stages in near concrete condition in Mid Wales, Hughes and Edwards hit the ground running as they made a fast start in the Fiesta.  Hughes would never be headed in the unoffical Fiesta battle throughout the day as he quickly got to grips with the new car and the changing conditions.  The blue sky and sunshine soon turned the hard stages into mud, and Simon increased his pace, moving closer to the Top 10 leaderboard by the lunchtime halt.  A concerted effort from the Welsh pair would see them force their way into the Top 10 with two stages ago, and the combination of an unfortunate retirement for a fellow competitor and a stunning Top 5 final stage time from Hughes would see Simon and Jamie leapfrog to sixth overall and a fine second in the up to two litre class.Hughes was delighted with his first real taste of the new car on gravel:'Things went very well today' said Simon.  'After the recent Tour of Epynt on tarmac, I'd had a bit of a feel for what the car could do, but today was a real test due to the surface changes and the conditions.  The car is a strong all round package, and the handling in particular is excellent.  Traction was also very good in the most tricky of conditions with the Michelin tyres, and I'm very pleased that we were able to finish so well up the leaderboard by the end.  It was also good to have another Fiesta at the event to compare too, and I'm pleased that we were able to set some very strong times throughout the rally.  Jamie also made a strong contribution to our pace during the day and we both really enjoyed not having any pressure or expectation to do well.  It's an ideal shakedown for the Malcolm Wilson Rally next month.'Simon's regular co-driver, Claire Mole, returns to take up the full time co-driving responsibility for the rest of the season from the Malcolm Wilson Rally onwards.