Highs and lows at Rali Ceredigion

Osian Pryce remains firmly in contention for the British Rally Championship title after experiencing a weekend of highs and lows on the JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion (4-6 September) in his Castrol MEM Rally Team Toyota GR Yaris Rally2.

Co-driven by James Morgan, the 2022 champion arrived at the Aberystwyth-based event – which counted for both Rounds 4 and 5 of this year’s BRC – leading the drivers’ standings.

A puncture on the qualifying stage gave Osian an unfavourable road position for Leg 1 – but despite having to contend with mud and debris pulled onto the road by the cars ahead, he survived Friday night and increased his pace on Saturday to challenge for maximum BRC points.

Sensibly leaving the FIA European Rally Championship crews to battle for the overall win, the two-time Rali Ceredigion victor completed Leg 1’s 12 challenging stages sixth overall and, far more importantly, picked up second-place BRC points – missing out on the maximum score by less than five seconds.

Sunday hosted the fifth and penultimate round of the BRC, with the day’s four demanding stages effectively forming a flat-out sprint for championship points.

Osian made a good start in the Michelin-shod Toyota and had just moved up to fourth overall when the car lost drive and stopped with a gearbox issue on Sunday’s second stage.

The non-score dropped Osian to third in the BRC standings, setting up a three-way battle for the drivers’ title with Meirion Evans and Max McRae at the final round, the Lewis & Hunter Contracting Cambrian Rally (24 October). Osian is, however, the only one of the three drivers yet to play his BRC Joker, which offers up to five bonus points.

“We began on the back foot after qualifying and didn’t get the best start on Friday evening, but Saturday went okay to be fair,” said Osian.

“By the time the afternoon’s second loop of stages came around, we had sorted the car out and were on the pace. That was quite encouraging in many ways, but it was still a little disappointing to miss out on maximum BRC points by such a small margin on Saturday night.

“Everything was going well on Sunday. On the stage we stopped, we were strong on the splits. We just braked for a junction and went from fifth to fourth gear, and immediately the engine revved. I thought I’d missed a gear at first, but we’d lost all drive and came to a stop. It looks like it might be the input shaft in the gearbox.

“It was a shame because the stage times were starting to come, and we had just moved up to fourth overall. Had we continued in that position, it would have been one of my best ERC results.

“Had we won the penultimate round of the BRC, it would probably have gone down to the final round anyway. Having built up a healthy lead before Rali Ceredigion, the pressure’s back on now. But it’s good for the championship that there are three drivers fighting for the title on the last round of the series – so all we can do is bounce back and give it our best shot in a month’s time.”

Osian is supported by The Leading Edge, Hills Automotive, Haddo Energy, Demon Tweeks, LAS Recycling, Bell, Red Kite Glass, Rhode-Trax, Morrisons Daily, Superfast Properties, OMP, Zero Noise, Gorsaf Betrol Tymawr, Diogel Events, J.E. Rees & Sons, Jordan Road Surfacing, Glenbrook and his own family-run specialist building firm G+M Pryce.