CAVE ADDS MORGAN FOR FULL BRC IN ’16

Drive DMACK Trophy frontrunner Tom Cave will switch to the British Rally Championship in 2016, partnered by British co-driver James Morgan.

Cave announced at the end of last year that he would definitely compete on the season-opening Mid Wales round, but has taken a step forward in committing to a whole campaign with Morgan this year in a Ford Fiesta R5 Evo.

“Predominantly I wanted to be back in an R5 and do a full season in an R5 car,” explained Cave, who has done one-off events in an R5 car but not a whole season. “Four-wheel drive is always something I’ve felt really comfortable driving and I know I’ve got the pace to compete and to contest rallies outright. I just feel there isn’t much to achieve in two-wheel drive now.”

Cave has finished runner-up in the DMACK Trophy for two consecutive seasons, in 2014 his new co-driver James Morgan triumphed alongside Sander Parn.

“I’ve known James for a few years, and obviously there was that very intense rivalry [with Parn] in 2014 which was good. We were rivals but we did respect one another, and it’s just come together at the right time for the both of us.”

Cave and Parn went to down to the wire for the DMACK Trophy in 2014 – with the prize being a seven-round WRC2 campaign with the tyre manufacturer. Parn came out on top.

Morgan – who will continue to compete in WRC2 with Parn in 2016 – added: “We’ve been quite friendly outside of the car. We were rivals for 2014 mainly, but yeah it will be nice to [join Tom] and I’ll still be with Sander in WRC2, it will be a busy year for me for sure.”

Both Morgan and Cave have credited the BRC for the work done to reignite the series during its off-season, and Morgan believes that the entry for the opening round will be a surprising number.

“You look how many WRC2 cars are in Monte,” he said. “Potentially we could have more at the first round of the British Championship than the World Rally Championship so that shows a lot.

“It’s gone the right way. The year out has helped the buzz around it. It’s good seeing people committing, putting pen to paper rather than talking about it.”

Welshman Cave will be looking to improve on his second-placed finish in 2012. He finished ahead of M-sport driver Elfyn Evans, who is the favourite for the title in 2016 driving a similar Fiesta R5 Evo in the DMACK British Rally Team.

“Of course Elfyn is going to be match fit and the guy everyone is going to put their money on him to win,” said Cave. “I’ve competed against Elfyn in the past and we were always on a similar sort of pace. Of course, he’s come off the back of two years in a World Rally Car but to achieve and get where you want to go you have to beat people who are theoretically better than you.”

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