Teenage rally driver Tom Cave's season at the wheel of his Proton Satria Neo S2000 ended abruptly on the tenth stage of the 2010 Wales Rally GB, when the car's engine failed. This was a particularly bitter pill, since Tom and co-driver Craig Parry put in a pair of excellent stage times on the two stages prior to the failure, on the car's debut in the FIA World Rally Championship.
Following the suspension failure on the first leg, Tom and Craig were running under SupeRally regulations on Leg Two and began the day in 48th place overall. With the prospect of a representative result well and truly gone, Tom decided to push as hard as he felt comfortable on the second day of the event, to see what he could do with the car.
The first two stages went very well - he posted stage times in the mid-20s of the field, well on par with the S2000 and P-WRC field, when the performance differential of the Proton, estimated at two seconds per kilometre, is taken into consideration.
However, 15Km into the third stage of the day, Tom had a sense of déjà vu, as he felt the Proton's engine instantly lose power as he shifted up a gear. Recognising the same problem from the Ypres rally earlier this year, he elected to pull over as soon as possible to prevent any further damage to the engine's internals. As a result, the crew was left with no choice but to retire from the event.
Commenting, Tom said: "I couldn't believe it when I felt the engine let go. I knew straight away that it was game over for us - no coming back.
"The worst thing was that, up until then, I was really pleased with our pace. We were pushing, without a shadow of doubt, but not to the point where it was dangerous. We took time out of Toshi Arai, for example, which I feel is quite an achievement.
"Looking at the times from the first two stages, we were less than two seconds/Km slower than the S2000 pace-setters and less than 1s/Km slower than the fastest Group N car. We know that there is plenty more speed to come out of the Proton, so I am encouraged by that pace.
"It's been a tricky year for us and I am devastated that our last event in the Proton ended this way."
Tom will now spend the winter off-season considering his options for 2011 before coming to a decision. He has a provisional entry in for the Monte Carlo Rally in January, the first round of the 2011 IRC but has yet to decide whether to compete and in what car.
