Teenage rally driver Tom Cave retired from this weekend's Bulldog Rally, the second round of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship after he slid off the road on the first stage. His JRM-run Group N Mitsubishi Lancer EvoX suffered only minimal damage in the accident but the car came to rest down a steep bank and was not able to get back onto the road, so he and co-driver Craig Parry were forced to retire.

Heavy overnight rain in the mid-Wales area made the opening stages particularly slippery but despite this, Tom and Craig were feeling positive as they headed for the first of the day's ten timed tests.

The stage was going well, with Tom having a good feeling in the car, despite the conditions. However, on the penultimate corner of the first stage, as he turned in to a left hand bend, the rear of the car snapped to the opposite direction and this sent the car off the road and down a bank. It came to rest against a tree, which cracked the windscreen but it was unable to get back onto the road.

Commenting, Tom said; "I am absolutely gutted. And the worst part is, I'm still not entirely sure what happened. Possibly I left my braking too late and the conditions were very tricky but I'm not really sure...

"As I turned in to the left-hander, the rear of the car started to slide, as I wanted it to. However, it then felt like it found some grip and it sent the rear end the other way and pitched us off the road and down the bank. There was no way we could get back onto the road and that was it.

"Once we get back to base, we'll have a look at the data to try to understand what actually happened. Up until that point though, the feeling in the car was really good and we were attacking as we planned to, to try to get an early advantage."

The next round of the BRC is the Pirelli International Rally over the weekend of the Royal Wedding, 29/30 April and based in Carlisle, Cumbria.