Tom Cave finished this weekend's Red Kite stages rally, the first event in his 2011 campaign, in second place overall, by just a second. The 19 year-old held a healthy lead going into the final stages but despite his second puncture of the day, he still took the class win as consolation.

Tom was back at the wheel of his Group N Subaru Impreza for the event, preparing for the start of his 2011 British Rally Championship campaign next month. He began the one-day event trading times with the Subaru World Rally Car of James Belton, despite an early puncture, four miles into the Crychan stage.

However, Belton suffered problems that led to his retirement before the fourth stage of the event, meaning that the pressure was off Tom, as he headed into the second loop of three stages with a 12-second lead.

But he suffered another puncture, three miles in this time and as the tyre completely shredded, he and co-driver Craig Parry lost almost half a minute getting to the end of the stage. He then pushed hard on the following stage to try to regain some of the lost time, going through 17 seconds quicker than the first run in the morning and 23 quicker than the closest competitor, Tom Naughton in a Mitsubishi Evo9.

But his chances of reclaiming the leading position were scuppered when the final stage of the event was cancelled, and the times stood. Therefore, Tom was classified in second place, just one second behind Naughton. However, he was classified as winning his class, since although he and Naughton were in the same class, Tom was awarded the win as Naughton won overall.

Commenting after the finish, Tom said; "That was a very frustrating day, particularly as the last stage was cancelled. But you can't keep thinking about "What if?" - Tom won and we took the class win, which is good.

"It was quite tight at the front to start with - James and I were swapping times and I wasn't sure how it was going to play out, taking the fight to a World Rally Car. But when he retired, it took the pressure off and I thought we would have some breathing space.

"When we picked up the puncture, close to where we got one in the first run through, I knew we were in trouble. I pushed as hard as I could on the second of the three stages but couldn't quite close the gap and when the last stage was cancelled, that was it.

"I think today shows that the DMS guys have done a great job with the car over the winter - it felt really good to be back in the car and I'm really pleased with the pace we showed. I'm looking forward to the Wyedean Rally in a couple of weeks time now but I'm sure the competition will be even harder there - the field is huge and there are at least five WRCars entered already."

Tom's next event, the Wyedean, is the first round of the Silverstone Tyres BTRDA series and takes place on Saturday 12 February, based at the racecourse in Chepstow.