Tom Cave was denied a sensational result on Rally Latvia, the finale of the Baltic State's national rally series this weekend. Driving the MML Sports Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX for the first time, the 18 year-old was on course for sixth place overall and second in Group N when he was forced to stop and change a flat tyre.
This was the first time Cave had driven the MML Sports EvoX and following a short pre-event test, was settling into the car well. He was pleased with his times over the first three gravel stages of the event, fifth-fastest on the first two and fourth-fastest in Group N on the second run of the superspecial stage.
He was fourth-fastest on the next two stages also, to enter the first of the final three stages 11th overall and sixth in class. However, just 2Km into the 21Km test, he hit a rock mid-way through a fast left hand bend and felt the tyre deflate instantly. He knew the only option for him and co-driver Craig Parry was to stop and change the tyre, which they did, dropping some four minutes in the process.
From that point on, any hopes of a good result were gone but they maintained their focus to the end of the event, finishing in 18th place overall and seventh in Group N. However, the MML Sports team looked at the data and times of other competitors and predicted that, without the time lost by changing the flat tyre, Tom would have potentially finished the event sixth overall and second in Group N.
Commenting at the end of the event, Tom said: "This was a really good rally. The result doesn't really justify how well I feel it went but as we know all too well, that's how it goes sometimes.
"I was really pleased with the times I was setting early on and the car felt really good. At the first service, we decided to raise the ride height after talking it through with my engineer, as the roads were becoming quite cut-up.
"Then, near the start of the first of the last three stages, I came across a huge rock right on the line that I just couldn't avoid. We hit it and the tyre went down instantly. From there on, the rally was effectively over - we kept the pace up enough to make sure we concentrated and brought it home to the finish.
"The MML Sports Group N Lancer was absolutely fantastic. We had no problems with it at all and it was amazing to drive. I'm just gutted that we weren't able to get a good result - even more so when the team told me they reckoned I was on for sixth overall and second in Group N.
"I just hope I demonstrated that we have the pace and did enough to keep the team happy - they put in so much effort and were extremely professional and very complimentary with their feedback. Driving the GpN EvoX this weekend has given me an incredible amount of food for thought..."
Tom's next event will be Rally Scotland in October, the penultimate round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. He will tackle the event for the second year in a row, this time at the wheel of his ex-works Proton Satria Neo Super2000. The team begins its test program this week, to develop a set-up to begin the rally, as well as shake the car down thoroughly after an extensive rebuild.
