Sensational comeback for Matt

Matt Edwards produced one of the most extraordinary comebacks in the history of the British Rally Championship when he fought back from 143rd overall and last of the BRC competitors to finish fifth overall and score second place BRC points on the Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull

Rally (8-10 October) in his Yuasa Rally Team Volkswagen Polo GTI R5.

The North Wales driver’s first appearance on the famous asphalt event, on the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Inner Hebrides, didn’t start well, as he uncharacteristically approached a tightening left hand corner near the start of SS1 too fast.

Matt (pictured) pulled the handbrake so the Yuasa Battery, TPS and Swift Group-backed Polo R5 would hit the bank backwards and not damage anything at the front of the car. Instead the heavy impact broke the rear right suspension. He and co-driver Darren Garrod found a safe place to pull over and assess the damage and tied the broken suspension together using the spare wheel strap. Unfortunately, the brake disc had snapped and they had to complete the 6.77 mile Mishnish Lochs stage at slow speed – collecting a stage maximum time of 14 minutes, losing almost seven minutes to the fastest BRC crew. From there the route went straight into SS2, costing another six and a half minutes. The Melvyn Evans Motorsport team were impressed that the 37-year-old Colwyn Bay driver had managed to make such an ingenious emergency repair and get the car back to first service. Matt had lost almost 14 minutes in total, but with 15 stages and 127 stage miles remaining the fightback for BRC points was on.

Matt responded in the only way he knows how – by setting fastest BRC time on Friday’s remaining three night stages to move up to 80th overall by the overnight halt.

It’s not in Matt’s nature to feel sorry for himself and he came out fighting on Saturday afternoon, taking time off all the local drivers by setting overall fastest time on the opening two stages.

By the time he arrived in service for a second time Matt had five fastest BRC times and moved from last to sixth – this despite a half spin on SS10, during which he’d clipped a bank and dislodged the front bumper. Another brilliant overall fastest time on SS12 shot him up to fourth in the BRC category. However, he had his sights fixed on second place, even though the deficit to that position was over three minutes and there was only four stages and 46 stage miles remaining. He had also moved up to 13th overall by the end of Leg 2.

On the opening stage of the final leg, Matt set a new record over

Calgary Bay/Loch Tuath, moving up to eighth overall and third in the BRC. After two more relatively short but very tricky stages, Matt was sixth overall, second in the BRC.

One more overall fastest time on the final stage – Matt’s ninth in 17 stages – saw him move up to a final position of fifth overall. More importantly, he’d gone from last to second in the BRC to keep his third straight title hopes very much alive.

“It’s almost even more special to get the result we have on Mull after what happened on the opening stage and to have picked myself up and fought back in the way we have. I think I’ve learned a lot about myself this weekend,” said Matt. “I never give up. Never.”

The next round of the British Rally Championship is Matt’s home round, the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally on Saturday 30 October.

British Rally Championship – overall Drivers’ points after R5:

1. Osian Pryce….96(J)pts

2. Matt Edwards….80pts

3. Matthew Wilson….53(J)pts