Big BRC points on Rali Ceredigion

Osian Pryce was pleased to reach the finish of JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion (30 August – 1 September) and secure a solid third and fourth-placed double header bag of Probite British Rally Championship points after wrestling his often-disobedient Ford Fiesta Rally2 that instead of rocketing down the fast and bumpy closed road stages in unison wanted to understeer into the undergrowth at seemingly every opportunity! 

It wasn’t a huge problem, but it was big enough that Osian and co-driver Rhodri Evans had to back off and “under drive” the car in places which, against top FIA European and British rally championship competition, cost them a potential overall podium finish and saw them courageously come home in seventh place. 

It’s not a position that you’d expect a two-time Rali Ceredigion winner and a former British and TER – Tour European champion to finish, yet Osian still finished ahead of many formidable drivers and it was certainly better than finishing in a hedge which is where a lesser experienced and skilful driver in similar circumstances may have found themselves. 

Osian claimed third-place BRC points thanks to an eighth-place overall finish on Leg 1, although understeer was evident right from the start as the 31-year old Machynlleth-born driver completed the opening two tight and twisty Aberystwyth town stages on Friday night in 13th position – although the gap to the leader was a mere 8.1 seconds. 

Saturday was a long day, with eight stages totalling 77.24 stage miles. The battle for position was extremely close, with Osian setting a third fastest time over the first running on the signature Nany y Moch stage against top ERC competition.

In what Osian admitted was “an up and down day” the 2022 British rally champion claimed crucial third-placed BRC points as Leg 1 drew to a close on Saturday night.

Whilst Osian started Sunday in eighth overall, it was a clean slate in terms of BRC points as a 34.81 stage mile Leg 2 sprint awaited with two runs over the Bethania and Hafod stages.

Unfortunately, understeer continued to be a problem and contributed to Osian clipping a bank early on SS12. Pushing hard and easing off were both costing time and that Catch 22 situation continued right until the end of the rally, with Osian claiming fourth-placed BRC points and coming home seventh overall – with every one of the 42.1 seconds that separated him from a podium finish attributed to the understeer.

“We just haven’t been able to find that extra one percent that we need to fight at the top this weekend,” explains Osian. 

“It doesn’t sound much, but if you’re one percent down on every corner then that equates to quite a gap by the end of a long event like Rali Ceredigion – and it’s why we’ve ended about forty seconds away from the podium. There have been some good bits that we are happy with, but it’s frustrating that we weren’t able to crack the code and get us to where we wanted to be. I’m happy to have finished unscathed, but it’s a case of what might have been. 

“To be fair to everyone in the Dom Buckley RSC team, they tried absolutely everything they could think of to find a solution. It’s not a major issue, but it’s that little sweet spot that you need at this level that just wasn’t there this time. I’ve even compared our on-board videos from last year where we were on rails to this year, and you can see that we were understeering and running out of road this weekend even when we weren’t going quite as fast.

“I think our challenge for the British rally title is pretty much over for this year and Rali Ceredigion will probably be my last rally of 2024. It might be a slightly longer off-season than we’d planned coming up, but we’ll use the winter break to get ready for next year.”

Osian is supported by The Leading Edge, Michelin, Demon Tweeks, Bell Racing helmets, OMP race suits, Hills Ford, DL Jones Pontrobert Ltd (coach and taxi hire), MotoFit (performance training), Redkite Glass, Cwmni Diogel (Security and Event Management), Speedy Sofas, Gorsaf Betrol Tymawr/Rheidol, and his own family-run specialist building firm G+M Pryce – plus new partners Virtus Fleet, Dyfi Kitchens, Daltec Virtus Fleet, SMART Bodyshop Solutions, Glampo Ger y Gors Glamping, LAS Recyling and 3A’s Leisure.