A class win for Formula 1000 graduate Ben Crealey on this weekend's Nicky Grist Stages rally, the sixth round of the BTRDA rally series, again proved the validity of the support the Japanese tyre manufacturer offers to young drivers.

Crealey is following in the footsteps of drivers such as Aaron McClure, now driving a Yokohama-supported Mitsubishi Evo9 in the BTRDA, having also graduated from F1000 through the 'Next Big Step' program. All three levels of rallying are supported by Yokohama and use the company's rally tyres.

This weekend, Crealey began the eight-stage event - his first on gravel - concentrating on his notes but by the mid-point service, found that he was in the hunt for the class win. He and co-driver Phil Hall upped their pace for the afternoon and by the time they reached the finish ramp in Builth Wells, had claimed the win by more than a minute.

Elsewhere in the event, previous round Group N winner and Yokohama runner Roland Llewellin was again setting the N4 pace and was leading the class with two stages to go. However, he retired on the penultimate stage while McClure suffered a broken driveshaft on his Mitsubishi on the final stage, dropping two minutes in the process.

At the front of the field, Jamie Anderson was again out in his Yokohama-shod Mitsubishi Lancer WRCar, in the thick of the action in an extremely competitive field. Despite a stage win and a brace of top-three times, he went on to finish the event in sixth place.

Commenting, Head of Motorsport at Yokohama HPT, Mark Evans, said; "I am delighted to see Ben taking his first class win, at just 17 years of age. As a graduate of the Formula 1000 series, he is another driver that has demonstrated the value of that route into motorsport and I am pleased that Yokohama's support of young drivers has again reaped rewards."