Tom Cave enjoyed a near perfect two days of rallying this weekend, with an outright win and a class win to his name.
He and regular co-driver Craig Parry finished Saturday's Malcolm Wilson Rally in sixth place overall and first in class N4, then followed that up by winning Sunday's Mid Wales Stages rally outright at their first attempt.
Driving their 2004-specification Group N Subaru, prepared and run by Davis Motorsport services and fitted with Pirelli BRC tyres, 19 year-old Cave and Parry knew it would be a tough weekend; two rallies, each a full day of stage action, separated by almost 180 miles, with the Malcolm Wilson rally based in Cockermouth and the Mid Wales stages, in Newtown.
Tom laid out his stall on the Malcolm Wilson early; he and former BTRDA Production Cup champion Tristan Pye were trading times on almost every stage, with occasional times from former British Championship contender and Sky Sports BRC presenter Robbie Head in amongst the action. However, Tom and Pye began to stretch out a lead at the head of the field, swapping class position as they went.
However, Pye hit problems towards the end of the event and heading into the last pair of stages, Tom found himself with a 22 second margin over the nearest competitor. With just two stages to run, Tom elected to back off slightly for the final two tests to safeguard the result.
Having collected his trophy, and a very useful points haul for the BTRDA Gold Star, Production Cup and Junior Driver awards, he and Parry headed south on the M6, ready for another day of action at the wheel of the Impreza.
Tom and Craig began the event - eventually at 12.00 - in their trademark style, by attacking from the start. Although there were only four stages making up the event, they were all long, in the region of 10 miles each and very demanding - they had formed part of last year's Wales Rally GB route. As he has done on the last few events,
Tom set the fastest time on the opening stage, going through some 11 seconds faster than both an N12 Subaru and a World Rally Car. He maintained the momentum to arrive at the day's service, after the second stage, with a 28second lead at the head of the field.
He and Craig continued where they left off and by the time they arrived at the finish ramp, had increased their lead to almost 44 seconds and with it, took the outright win of the event.
Speaking on Sunday evening, Tom said: "This has been a fantastic weekend - I am absolutely shattered now but it's been amazing. "On the Malcolm Wilson, I was slightly surprised at Tom Naughton's pace to begin with but then, Craig and I found a really good rhythm in the car. It all seemed to click and it felt manageable and competitive. It was really important to find that feeling, I think, as we needed to maintain the pace throughout the day and it's especially satisfying considering it's such a old car - we really had to drive the door handles off it to stay ahead of the Evo9s...
"On Sunday, on the Mid Wales, I knew the first stage reasonably well from Rally GB in the past and I knew that if I pushed hard, we might catch the others napping and get them on the back foot. As it transpired, that's just what happened - we took time out of them and they had to push to catch up and that meant that it was more likely for them to make mistakes.
"I think this weekend, everything just came together - I feel I was driving better than I have done for a long time, Craig was perfect on the notes, the Pirelli BRC-spec tyres worked really well and the Davis Motorsport boys gave us a really good car.
"This weekend has given me a lot more confidence and experience as we look ahead to the Bulldog rally, the next round of the British Rally Championship. We just need to keep this momentum going..."
This weekend's results mean that Tom now leads the BTRDA Production Cup and Junior Driver Award, is fourth in the BTRDA Gold Star Driver category and second in the British Rally Championship. His next event will be the second round of the BRC, the Bulldog Rally, on 2 April.
