The second points scoring round of the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship saw top honours go to Brackley driver Callum Black while Ffestiniog’s Ieuan Rowlands moved to the top of the series standings.
Black and co-driver Elliott Edmondson led the Championship field from the very first stage on Saturday’s Plains Rally, going on to take maximum championship points in the R5 specification Ford Fiesta.
Second place went to another Fiesta, the World Rally Car of former champion Conor McCloskey and co-driver John Rowan while Hugh Hunter survived what he later described as a “wall of death” on the opening stage to take third place points in his Ford Focus World Rally Car.
Fourth place for the Ford Escort of Rowlands and co-driver Emyr Hall elevates the duo to the top of the overall standings while Andy Davies and Max Freeman overcame a fuel pump problem on their Subaru Impreza to move into second place in the overall championship while continuing to lead the Group N category for near showroom specification cars.
Daniel Moss and Sam Allen took second place in Group N in their Mitsubishi Evo IX ahead of Wug Utting in his Subaru Impreza. Chris Whittall lies third in the Group N co-driver category while his driver, James Watkins from Welshpool holds fourth place among the Group N drivers.
Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver hold third place overall while the Ford Escort duo also lie second in the two wheel driver category behind Rowlands and Hall with Ieuan’s brother John Rowlands and co-driver Glen Latham making it an all Escort top three.
Rhydian Price tops the junior standings for drivers under 23 while Hannah McKillop leads the junior co-driver standings ahead of Simon Jones and Elliott Edmondson.
In the Ravenol Welsh Challenge, where points are awarded based on a driver’s performance within their class, Andy Davies and Rudi Lancaster are tied on 30 points with Ieuan Rowlands just one point back.
Meanwhile, the Ravenol UK motorsports voucher for the competitor making the biggest improvement on their seeding goes to Martin Walters and Marie Fletcher. Starting car 96, the Honda Civic crew finished 67th overall and 5th in class.
The next round of the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship will be the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages on 3 June.