Teenage rally driver Tom Cave will return to familiar territory in a brand new car next weekend, as he contests Rally Latvia, the finale of the 2010 national series, in an MML Sports Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX. The 18 year-old has already contested, and won, events in GpN machinery and in Latvia but has yet to sample what is widely regarded as the definitive GpN EvoX.
Having spent two seasons of rallying in Latvia, Tom already has two of the Baltic state's flagship event under his belt. He first competed in a Group N MG in 2007 and in 2009, won class N3 and was the first two wheel-drive car past the post in his former Ford Fiesta ST.
However, this year, things will be a little different as he joins the six-car strong MML Sports squad. The company was formed from the Mitsubishi works rally team and will be running a pair of Mitsubishi Lancer World Rally Cars, as well as four GpN EvoXs, including Tom.
While Tom has amassed significant four wheel-drive experience this season, in both the semi-works Proton Satria Neo S2000 and the 2004 Subaru Impreza, the MML Sports EvoX will be a completely different beast for the youngster from Aberdovey.
However, his two previous excursions on Rally Latvia mean that he should be able to concentrate on learning and getting the most from the car, rather than worrying about developing his set of pace notes for the event.
Tom explains; "Having done the event twice before and competed in Latvia for two seasons, I have a reasonable idea of what to expect. This means that hopefully, I won't have to revise my notes too much and can spend the recce carefully looking at the condition of the roads and the corners, understanding where I can gain speed and conversely, where to be careful.
"The roads tend to be very fast - much like in Finland - with a soft top surface. The event also draws huge numbers of spectators and has an amazing atmosphere - I'm really looking forward to returning to Latvia.
"I'm really excited to be driving the MML Sports EvoX. I gather that the company has been doing a lot of development work on the car and I'm sure it will be excellent to drive. We have a day of testing just before the rally starts [on Thursday] which will give me a chance to start learning the car, as well as meet the team and the mechanics.
"I think next weekend, the best we can hope for is to bring the car home intact and hopefully, get a solid result. I gather from Mark Higgins that Group N is hugely competitive in Latvia and I know the locals are very quick, so I'm sure it will be a challenging weekend."
The event begins with a superspecial stage on the evening of Saturday 25 September, before a full day of competition on Sunday 26, featuring eight stages before the leading crews arrive at the finish ramp at 17.20, local time.
