Osian shows rally winning pace on BRC return

Osian Pryce was closing in on the lead of the Legend Fires North West Stages when a mechanical issue forced him out of the opening round of the Probite British Rally Championship – but the pace he showed on his first rally in a Dom Buckley RSC-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2 meant that it all bodes very well for the rest of the season. 

After a cautious start on SS1 and a puncture on SS2, Osian had closed the gap on rally leader (and eventual winner) Chris Ingram from 17.8 to 3.6 seconds with fastest time on stages three and six, before a suspected fuel system issue stopped the car on SS7 when he was in second position.

Osian’s ability to quickly settle into the Fiesta Rally2, particularly in changeable wintry weather and extremely slippery and inconsistent road conditions, was impressive. It was there for all to see in the stage times, with a personal highlight of giving his co-driving best friend Rhodri Evans his very first overall stage win!

A non-finish wasn’t what the 2022 British rally champion wanted on his return to the series, but Osian takes far more positives away from the North West Stages as the performance gives him a tremendous amount of confidence ahead of round two.

“Although it’s a scored dropped already, I’m not too downbeat because despite it being a new event in a new car for me we were on the pace and everything was going well – and retiring with a mechanical issue is just one of those things,” said Osian.

“We don’t actually know what caused the problem yet, but we think it’s an issue with the fuel system. We could start the car and the engine would tick over, but there wasn’t enough fuel getting through for it to move. When we tried, the car would just stall.

“Conditions were very tricky and we were a little cautious on the opening stage, but we were happy with third fastest.

“Even running third car on the road, the stages were covered in mud – and a mile and a half from the end of stage two we clipped an exposed rock on a left hand corner. We had to do the final downhill section with a puncture, but we still set the second quickest time.

“We made a few quick set up changes before the next stage and set fastest time on stage three. After stages four and five were cancelled, we started the afternoon loop with another fastest time on stage six, and started stage seven in second position, just 3.6 seconds behind Chris Ingram.

“It was raining heavily now and coming out of a chicane the car started to make a funny noise and slowed a little. We kept going for a bit, but it eventually stopped and that was it.

“But everything felt good. The transition to a Fiesta Rally2 was a smooth one, I enjoyed driving the car and the stage times were there straight away without us pushing one hundred percent. It all bodes well for the rest of the British Rally Championship.”

Next up will be Osian’s home gravel round of the British Rally Championship, the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages. Based in Llandrindod Wells, the event takes place on Saturday 13 April with stages in the famous Myherin and Hafren forests.

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), Kitchen Door Changer, Speedy Sofas, Gorsaf Betrol Tymawr/Rheidol, and his own family-run specialist building firm G+M Pryce.