EDWARDS AND CAVE PREPARE FOR BATTLE
Ulster Rally’s new stages offer fresh challenge for crews
Joint leaders of the British Rally Championship
Matt Edwards and Tom
Cave are preparing to go head-to-head on this weekend’s Ulster Rally.
Both men have dominated proceedings so far with two wins apiece from the opening four events, and head to Ulster for the penultimate round of the championship tied on 68 points.
Edwards won the Tarmac event outright last year, but believes that won’t matter as the rally consists of three new special stages.
“We are all starting afresh, so any advantage I had in terms of knowing the stages has gone,” he told Motorsport News. “The conditions are also going to dictate the approach we take; if it is dry then you can go hard and fast, but if it is wet you have to be sensible without losing any time.”
Edwards will use a new Pirelli tyre this week for the first time and he acknowledges it’s an unknown quantity.
“That was the main reason we wanted to go to last month’s Down Rally but that didn’t happen, so we’re going to have to rely on shakedown,” said the reigning BRC champion.
“The car is exactly the same as last year, so heading over there with the same set-up seems to be the sensible thing to do. Similar to last year, if we can cherry pick those bits where we know the car, the pacenotes and my driving all come together, then we will look to try and do that.
“We want to obviously finish ahead of Tom. I don’t want to end up behind him and rely on luck going into the last round [Galloway Hills Rally]. I would much rather be in control of the situation myself.”
Cave insists he has nothing to fear heading to the Ulster lanes as he showed his raw speed at the West Cork Rally in March, the last time the BRC and Irish Tarmac Rally Championship competed together.
“We are not at a disadvantage,” said the Hyundai i20 R5 driver, who finished third overall and top British driver on the event.
“The Ulster is new for 2019
[for us] and we have proven that we are very competitive on new events we have not been to before now. If the weather turns wet, as it did in West Cork, we know the car and the tyres work well in those conditions. The feeling in the camp is very positive right now.”