By Paul Evans
Osian Pryce and Matt Edwards are lying first and second in the British Rally Championshipas their fierce duel for the coveted drivers’ title intensified on last weekend’s Trackrod Rally, whilst maximum points in Yorkshire has given Melvyn Evans Motorsport the lead at the top of the BRC teams’ standing with three rounds remaining.
Pryce is the only driver to have finished on the podium on all four rounds of this year’s BRC with his most recent second place on the Trackrod Rally giving him the lead in the drivers’ standings.
The 28-year old Machynlleth born driver recovered from a time consuming overshoot on the opening Dalby forest to fight back magnificently in his Demon Tweeks-backed Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.
He was an incredible 28.9 seconds faster when the stage was repeated – the final stage push promoting him to second place by 0.8 seconds.
That leave Pryce four points ahead of his stablemate Edwards with the longest and toughest round of the series, the Mull Rally, coming up on 8-9 October.
Pryce has led the BRC several times before – the last time in 2017. He has never won the title.
Pryce’s navigator, Noel O’Sullivan, leads the co-drivers’ standings.
It was double British champion Edwards who dominated the Trackrod Rally.
Whereas Pryce lost time, Edwards was a masterful 17.3 seconds quicker than anyone else through the opening 11 mile high-speed blast through Dalby forest in the dark.
That took the pressure off him and co-driver Darren Garrod, who went on to set fastest time on four of the remaining five stages, all held in daylight in the North Yorkshire forests, to take their Yuasa Rally Team Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 to a comfortable 32. 8 second victory.
Having won the Nicky Grist Stages, it was Edwards’ second win of the season.
And it looks like the BRC title will go to either Pryce or Edwards, as neither have used their bonus points scoring joker yet and both are in a strong position regarding points to drop – with Edwards having a slight advantage there, having already non-scored on the Grampian Rally and Pryce currently looking at droppingone of his podium points finish.
But with Mull, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally and the Ulster Rally remaining, there is everything to play for.
And you can rest assured that there will be no team orders in the Melvyn Evans Motorsport camp.
Come the end of the season, the best man will win.
“We’re pleased to be back leading the British Rally Championship and to do it by pushing hard on the final stage of the Trackrod to regain second place, but our challenge for victory was lost on the opening stage of the event,” said Pryce.
“A third of the way into Dalby we braked for an uphill T-junction and the car locked up and took off like a sledge!
“The engine stalled as we were sliding and we went straight on into a bank on the opposite side of the road. We couldn’t get reverse, so wasted more seconds there, then when we started to reverse the engine stalled again.
“After a good fifteen to twenty seconds we eventually managed to get going and drive off.
“A little bit later in the stage we got caught in some pockets of dust, which isn’t very nice in the dark, so we lost a bit of time there as well.
“But as for the overshoot it was an error by me – which doesn’t happen very often, but when it does I just have to hold my hand up and accept it.
“We pushed hard on the final two stages and regained second place on the last stage. It’s a valuable couple more extra points for us and it puts us back in the lead of the British Rally Championship – again!
“We’ve been leading the BRC at the mid-way point in the past and it’s not gone our way come the end of the season, so hopefully we can pull it all together this year.”
“For me the Trackrod Rally began a week ago when I started going through the pace notes and the historical footage of the event to make sure we nailed the opening stage in the dark,” said Edwards.
“A lot of work went into that stage and it was the key to building an early lead and taking the pressure off for when the rally restarted in daylight.
“And with the pressure off you can drive better and more freely.
“I just felt that I could play around with the car as it gave me so much more confidence and I was relaxed enough to drive well. I’m still learning the Polo R5, but it was fantastic to be able to drive the car in that way.
“Everything just clicked. The car worked well, we picked the right Pirelli tyres and it’s been a fairly effortless rally– which shows that everything worked as it should have.
“I’m obviously very pleased to win the event by such a big margin. It’s good leverage for the future.
“I want to go to Europe and do more events and it shows that the pace is there.
“There is always the bigger picture and for next year who knows?”
BRC overall Drivers’ points after Round 4
1. Osian Pryce….66pts
2. Matt Edwards….62pts
3. Matthew Wilson….53(J)pts
4. Rhys Yates….53(J)pts
5. Sam Moffett….37pts
6. Josh Moffett….24pts
BRC overall Teams’ points after Round 4
1. Melvyn Evans Motorsport….128pts
2. M-Sport….118pts