CAVE PUTS ON A SHOW AT HOME
Brits star again in the support categories as Tidemand dominates.
In a weekend which was obviously brilliant for the Brits, the WRC2 category was no different as two Welshmen and a Scotsman stole fastest times in front of an adoring crowd. But there was no stopping runaway winner Pontus Tidemand.
Cave was the star of the show in the home ranks and, despite switching from a Hyundai to a Ford Fiesta R5 for the event, there was no sign of any rustiness. He engaged in a blow-by-blow battle British compatriot Anthony Joshua would have been proud of – only Cave’s opponent was Frenchman Eric Camilli.
The battle was frantic, and looked to be decided in Cave’s favour after a brace of epic times on the Saturday afternoon. He said that was “part of the plan” as he didn’t want to be battling with Camilli going into the dark stages. Cave eased off the gas and dropped time to Camilli, but still had 7.1s in hand to start favoured Sunday stages. A slight set-up tweak and, job done.
But changing the car backfired. A spin on the third stage of Sunday, Gwydir, cost him dearly.
“We changed the gearbox, the ’diff settings weren’t allowing me to get on the power and drive the corner,” said Cave of his Sunday changes. “I tried to push through Gwydir because Eric was taking time out of us, and just got caught out. We got wedged in the road. We had to try. The goal was a podium and we’ve achieved that.”
The spin solved the battle in Camilli’s favour, who took 13.9s out of Cave in the fog in spectacular fashion, given they aren’t typical conditions of his native southern France. His reward was second in the WRC2 championship, and a rueful smile when asked if his future in the WRC was safe before answering “we will see”.
Scot David Bogie was another Brit to take a fastest time and sealed fourth in a sensible drive which netted him a first WRC2 finish proper. He’d been shy of Cave’s pace by a fraction, but could match him when he pushed. His closest challenger had been Eyvind Brynildsen, returning to WRC2 from the ultra-competitive Norwegian championship, but blue smoke from his car on Sunday spelled the end of his impressive run.
Young Finn Kalle Rovanpera slid off the road on SS5 and blocked his radiator, putting him out for the day. He had a better day on Sunday but struggled to adapt to his new mount, the Fiesta R5.
“We are learning all the time,” said the 17-year-old. “We had understeer a lot because my driving style [isn’t working] with this car. My style is really clean. With this car it’s different, you have to throw it around.”
Brits Gus Greensmith and Matt Edwards, M-sport team-mates, finished sixth and seventh just behind Skoda works youngster Juuso Nordgren. Greensmith had the wrong ’diff set-up for the weekend and was told to bring the car home, while Edwards’ WRC debut was meant for learning. The fastest time on Brenig was a bonus.
Without doubt the fastest man was Tidemand, and he romped to a win that signals he’s ready for a proper WRC car after his WRC2 title winning campaign. There’s no doubt he’ll be heavily involved in 2018 silly season.
The only drivers really on his pace while he was pushing was team-mate Ole Christian Veiby, who suffered a puncture on Friday, and M-sport man Teemu Suninen who had a puncture and a whole day of powersteering issues on Saturday.
Mull Rally winner and Scot John Maccrone would have scored a top 10 in WRC2 had he registered but took an excellent 21st overall in his first 2017 event after skipping Scottish action.
But the performance of the event was reserved for Callum Devine. The Prestone Motorsport News Junior BRC champion had never driven an R5 car before the event and his Fiesta had been bought from China and had no upgrades. With some help from CA1 Sport, not only did it reach the end, it did so in 25th overall and just half a minute outside of the WRC2 top 10.