Following a season tarnished by disappointment to date, the Pirelli Carlisle Rally saw Lampeter’s Meirion Evans add his first points to his 2016 Junior British Rally Championship campaign with a solid fourth place finish – but it wasn’t without its problems.
From the off, the twenty year old Welshman’s Ford Fiesta R2T was dogged with a down on power engine which, on an event renowned to be the fastest gravel rally in the British Rally Championship calendar, was amplified by the long straights found in the Kielder Forest complex.
A return to gravel after a two-month gap and snow falling during the pre-event reconnaissance would provide an early challenge for the young pairing. Undeterred, however, Evans and co-driver Jonathan Jackson entered the fearsome ‘Killer Kielder’ stages with hope that they could finally reach the finish line of a BRC event for the first time this season. Despite the issues, which were later traced to a faulty injector, the Melvyn Evans Motorsport crew still recorded top three times throughout day one – including second fastest on the third stage – placing them third in the highly competitive DMACK Junior BRC field overnight.
With the sunny conditions of day 1 being replaced by overnight rain, day two saw the grueling Kielder stages become slippery and an even greater challenge – particularly as their Fiesta R2T began to progressively worsen as the morning progressed, dropping to fourth, missing the podium by a mere 2.5 seconds at the finish. However, their goal was achieved as the pair crossed the finish line to record their first points score of the season;
“It’s been a bit of a bitter sweet weekend really, its really nice to finally get a finish, as well as set top 3 times with a sick car but, at the same time, I’m disappointed that for the 3rd rally in a row we’ve not been able to show our true potential against these guys. We’re 3 rounds in and we’ve only had one stage that I’ve felt I’ve driven well with a car that’s performing well. We’re persevering as we can see light at the end of the tunnel and once the car is sorted it certainly has the potential to fight against any other R2 car on any surface! There were numerous small personal victories over the course of the event and we will build on these for the Scottish”
In a positive twist at the events finish in Carlisle, Evans and Jackson discovered they had been nominated as the events ‘Star of the Rally’ – an award handed out by the British Rally Championship organisers to a deserving crew who had gone above their call of duty; the pair being awarded the accolade for showing determination to succeed against all odds in 2016;
“It was brilliant to win the SORT Oils spirit of the rally award, it was nice to have our hard work rewarded in some way. It’s easy to get your head down when things aren’t going your way but we’ve treated every rally as a new page and never let off in our preparations. It’s also a nice for the team to be recognised for their hard work on the car over the past few months. Hopefully from now on we can kick on into the second half of the season and reward the team ourselves with some results!”
With the BRC now taking a mid-season break, the next event for the pair will be the Severn Valley Stages. Based in Builth Wells, the event will provide the crew with an ideal shakedown ahead of the next two rounds of the BRC – the Scottish Rally and Nicky Grist Stages, respectively.
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