With competitors in the British Rally Championship back in action after a break of eight weeks, a strong sixth place on Rally Northern Ireland has left young Brackley driver Callum Black buoyant about his prospects for the remainder of the season.

The fourth round of the championship presented competitors with a stiff test as they tackled its tarmac stages. It was a really tough rally with challenging stages, explained Callum, The surface was constantly changing, with a lot of mud sections, particularly in the braking areas, which caught a few out!Callum has previously described the rally as his favourite tarmac event but changeable weather conditions left him and co-driver James Morgan from Aberdare in Wales with some difficult choices as the event progressed.  Tyre choices werent easy, he commented after the event, but we tended to go safe and run on intermediates if there was a chance of rain. Unfortunately, most of the time it stayed dry.  We were gambling on it raining as I am quicker in the wet.Despite missing out on his favoured weather conditions, the result was a personal best in the main British Rally Championship for the 22 year old former BRC Challenge Champion and he was delighted with both his performance and that of the Autosport Technology run Millers Oils DS3, saying We didnt have any real dramas and I certainly feel there is a lot more to come! I drove for a finish, and a finish I got, scoring some good points on the way.Callums strongest challenge came from the Ford Fiesta of Steve Rkland but he was able to fend off the rising Norwegian star and set up an exciting run in to the end of the season. We now need to get some more solid points on the board from Rally Yorkshire at the end of the month to keep climbing the table,  he says, then we can have a push on Rallye  Sunseeker International  to try and earn some serious points.As the Championship finale, the Sunseeker, based in Poole in Dorset, carries 50 per cent extra championship points. Two strong performances could see Callum improve significantly on his current top 10 placing in the Championship standings. He concedes however that he still has a challenge ahead of him, saying, For sure, I still have some work to do on gravel, but I feel really comfortable on the asphalt at the minute and Im confident I can push on a bit more now.The next round of the Championship, Rally Yorkshire, gets underway on 27th September