PRYCE EARNS 2017 PRIZE DRIVE
Welshman gets DMACK Fiesta R5
Osian Pryce has described winning the two World Rally Championship rounds in a DMACK Ford Fiesta R5 as the biggest moment of his career.
Second place in the DMACK Trophy section of Rally Poland was enough for the Welshman to clinch the first of three big prizes on offer from the British tyre firm this season.
“I can’t explain how it feels,” he said. “It’s fantastic. I’ve waited a while for a moment like this – we were setting a good pace in the Junior [WRC] last year and we should have won Poland 12 months ago. I’m absolutely delighted.”
Pryce was leading going into the final day, but dropped back when a tyre was knocked off the rim in some of the enormous Sunday morning ruts.
“It was so difficult to drive in those conditions,” he said. “The tyres had been absolutely perfect, but not even they could cope with those kind of ruts – it was nuts!”
Pryce’s fellow British driver Jon Armstrong took his maiden DDFT win of the season, with Gus Greensmith also playing a starring role before he lost out with a wheel bearing problem.
“I’ve got to take my hat off to Gus and Jon,” said Pryce, “they have both driven a fantastic rally – the pace between the three of us has been fast. It’s been great to have the three British drivers forcing each other on.”
Pryce’s second place allied to his round one win in Portugal made it impossible for him to be caught. Points from Poland will now be carried forward to Finland, where a second brace of Fiesta R5 2017 prize drivers are on offer.
“I can’t wait for Finland now,” said Pryce. “I’ve grown up looking at videos and pictures of cars flying over those famous jumps and now I’m going to be doing that – and chasing another prize.”
After Poland and Finland make up round two of the prize drive opportunities, Germany and Spain make up the final pair.
Sunday July 10
Service: Royal Welsh Showground (15 minutes) SS9 New Road (11.77 miles) SS10 Quarry 1 (4.39 miles) SS11 Cilieni 1 (4.52 miles) SS12 Quarry 2 (4.39 miles) SS13 Cilieni 2 (4.52 miles) Service: Ranges (30 minutes) SS14 Deers 1 (4.42 miles) SS15 Tank 1 (4.36 miles) SS16 Deers 2 (4.42 miles) SS17 Tank 2 (4.36 miles) SS18 Drovers Return (11.84 miles) Finish: Builth Wells
Stage miles
out of the Scottish Rally, Ahlin trails by 20 points in the championship.
Many of the drivers, including Evans and Ahlin, have competed on some of Saturday’s stages on Wales Rally GB.
With Epynt being new to most crews, Alex Laffey is hoping that his experience on the ranges will yield a strong result. Laffey is one of the only R5 crews who has done Epynt in the last two years.
“I can’t wait for the Nicky Grist Stages, because my confidence is growing on gravel and I’m looking forward to having a good run through the forests on the Saturday and getting back to Tarmac on Sunday,” explained Laffey. “I’ve rallied on all the Tarmac
BTRDA: 44.70 miles BRC: 103.69 miles
roads on Epynt – I’ve been there six times since 2012, so I know the stages pretty well and will be aiming for a good run on the Sunday stages especially.”
In the DMACK BRC Juniors, Meirion Evans is local to Epynt and competed on the Tour of Epynt in March. He’ll be expected to challenge as he also knows the Saturday stages well. Rob Duggan is renowned for his capabilities on asphalt and gravel, while his team-mate Mattias Adielsson plays his double-points joker. Fellow Scandinavian and Scottish Rally winner Sindre Furuseth is inexperienced on asphalt before and could struggle in the ageing Renault Twingo R2.