Tom Cave enjoyed a storming end to his 2009 rally season, claiming 44th overall and third in class on Rally of Great Britain and eighth overall and first in class on Rally of Scotland. The latter marked the best result for a Ford in the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge and would have netted him a championship point had the marque been registered for the series.
Tom's pan-European 2009 season drew to a close with two home events. The first was the finale of the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship and was the second Rally of Great Britain the youngster contested before his 18th birthday.
This year's event followed a similar build-up to last year's, with heavy rain during the recce and predicted for the rally itself. Tom and co-driver Craig Parry started well but would see their chance of living up to last year's excellent result, which saw him win the class, evaporate as they slid off the road on the first day.
Tom entered a corner too fast and the car slid into the ditch and rolled over twice, coming to rest in a peat bog. While the car was only damaged cosmetically, they couldn't get back onto the road until one of the Armed Forces Rally Team Land Rovers pulled them out and back onto the road. Unfortunately, the 25 minutes they were stuck for had ended their chance of class domination.
However, they didn't let this affect their performance and they carried on at a blistering pace. The pair claimed four class wins from the six stages on Saturday and on each of the four stages on Sunday, to climb from 61st overall to 44th by the end, and third in class.
Four weeks later, the pair was in action again, this time on the finale of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which Yokohama is a tyre partner to. If drivers thought the weather in Wales was bad, then it was something else altogether in southern Scotland, as crews tackled stages not used for rallying for decades.
Tom and Craig approached the event with their trademark conservatism, establishing a pace that would keep them at the head of the leaderboard but not risk too much. As it transpired, this was the perfect approach, as their two wheel-drive competition, notably in more advanced machinery, suffered a series of spins, off-road excursions and punctures.
By the end of the event, Tom and Craig finished in ninth place on the road overall and first in class but were promoted to eighth when the rally winner was excluded due to a technical infringement on his car. This marked the best result for a Ford in the 2009 IRC and had the manufacturer been registered for the series, would have netted Tom his first driver's point in an international rally championship, a superb achievement just days after his 18th birthday.
Speaking at the end of the season, Tom said: "It's been an incredible year. We've had some exceptional results and some frustrating ends but everything has been part of the learning curve. We've also faced just about every possible condition with the exception of snow and ice - fast dry gravel, tight and twisty wet gravel and both wet and dry asphalt.
"The support that Yokohama HPT has given us this year has been invaluable and the tyres have worked very well for us. Punctures have been pretty much non-existent and the performance has been excellent. I'm extremely grateful to the company for their support in making this an outstanding year for us."
Commenting, Yokohama HPT Motorsport Manager Mark Evans, said: "I'm delighted that Tom has achieved so much, including his superb result in Scotland. We knew that he was capable of delivering from last year's Wales Rally of Great Britain and he has done that all season. We are pleased to have been able to support him and the team's activity this year and I hope that we can continue that relationship into next season."
