Tom Cave will be tackling his second Wales Rally GB before his 18th birthday next week, as the youngster aims to at least repeat his performance from last year's event. On that occasion, he dominated the N3 class and took the category win by a margin of 15 minutes, on his debut in the FIA World Rally Championship.
Tom caused something of a stir in 2008, when he became the youngest competitor ever to compete on the UK round of the WRC. However, what made his accomplishment even more remarkable was the fact that the event began just 18 days after his 17th birthday, giving him only one chance to pass his driving test and gain the necessary UK driving license.
History shows that he did this at his first attempt, much to the relief of his family and team, as well as the numerous TV news crews waiting to interview him on his return from the test centre. He went on to drive an incredibly considered and measured event amid appalling conditions, demonstrating a maturity that greatly outweighed his age and two year's rally experience in Latvia, where he cut his teeth.
Long-range weather forecasts seem to suggest that while conditions in the region have been dry recently, they may well become wetter for the rally itself this year. However, one thing seems more certain than last year and that is that the temperature should be higher, with the rally running one month earlier than in 2008 and with it, hopefully no repeat of the snow and ice that formed part of the challenge last season.
Despite this, Tom is keenly aware that conditions on the traditional season closer can bear little relation to forecasts. "At the moment, it looks like the conditions won't be as bad as they were last year," he said. "But this is Rally GB we're talking about, so anything can happen! If it is drier and warmer, then I think the playing field in our class will be more even than it was and I expect to have to fight to achieve a good result.
"Having said that, if it does come wet, then the experience I gained last year, as well as a little local knowledge, will hopefully serve me well.
"Last year was obviously a dream result for me - I couldn't have imagined it could be as good as that. This year, it will be impossible to top but my objective is to try to win the class again and show that the result last year and the speed we have shown this year are genuinely what we are capable of and not flashes in the pan.
"The plan will be to take things easy on Friday, as with no main service and only a remote, it would be easy to lose the rally if we have any problems. Saturday is then the day to push, either to extend an advantage or to close up on the other competitors. I have Craig Parry in the car with me again this weekend so it may take a little while to settle into the rhythm but after seeing how it worked in Poland earlier this year, I'm confident that it won't take too long."
Tom will be contesting the event in his regular Group N Ford Fiesta ST, since none of the alternative options he was investigating came to fruition. However, this means that he will be able to bring into play the experience he has gained this year, including the WRC rounds in Portugal and Poland, as well as numerous other events.
He will be facing direct competition from several runners in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International, the one-make series using the same specification Fiesta as his. He has already demonstrated his pace against these in the three WRC rallies he has done and showed that he has the pace to succeed.
However, what will be unknown is how the all-new Fiesta R2 will perform. Tom recently tested the latest offering from M-Sport, the company charged with Ford's official WRC team and was impressed. The car also performed well on the penultimate round of the WRC, Rally Spain where it was quicker on asphalt than the ST but Tom is keen to see how it performs on gravel.
"It will be good to see how the R2s go, as I was impressed with the car when I tested it recently and it may well be the basis for next year's program. It was also something we were trying to see if we could run on Rally GB but there weren't any cars available for us.
"I don't have much direct competition experience against Craig [Breen, driving an R2] but I have got a bit against the two Castrol Ford Team Turkiye drivers and know that on the occasions we have competed together in Fiesta STs, I seemed to have a speed advantage. So with them in the new car, hopefully we'll get a good idea of the relative pace of the two cars and see if it will be the step forward I need to take for next year."
The event begins with a ceremonial start in Cardiff Bay on the evening of Thursday 22 October before three days of action on some of Mid-Wales' most iconic stages. There are six stages on each of Friday and Saturday, including two runs of the 32Km Hafren stage on Friday and two passes through the 36Km Rhonda test on Saturday. Sunday sees just four stages before the crews reach the finish ramp in Cardiff at
