Round 1: Weir Engineering Wyedean Forest Rally

North Wales crew Luke Francis and John Roberts scored maximum points with third place overall on the season-opening Wyedean Rally.

Euan Thorburn and Paul Beaton were quick out of the blocks but their event ended prematurely. Francis commentated that changes made to his car over the winter had resulted in more power and meant that he was, “Now arriving at everything much quicker”.

Ollie Mellors and Alex Lee were next up in fourth overall, their confidence having grown after leaving service on different tyres.

Results (championship competitors emboldened)1 David Bogie / Kevin Rae (Ford Focus WRC) 0h42m59s 2 Paul Bird / Aled Davies (Ford Focus 07 WRC) 0h44m01s 3 Luke Francis / John H Roberts (Mitsubishi EVO 9) 0h45m29s

Provisional championship standings 1 Luke Francis – 302 Ollie Mellors – 273 Roland Llewellin – 254 Paul Davy – 245 Simon Rogers – 23