YPRES RALLY: BREEN AND EDWARDS SHINE IN BELGIAN CLASSIC
Reigning BRC champion back in title contention after sensational win. By Ben Buesnel
Matt Edwards and co-driver Patrick Walsh took a dramatic British Rally Championship win on the legendary Ypres Rally to put Edwards firmly back in contention to retain his crown.
The Ford Fiesta R5 driver repeated his 2018 win in fine style to take maximum BRC points, sixth overall and with it the Tony Pond Award for the highest placed British crew on the legendary Belgian event.
Their main rivals for the title, Tom
Cave and Dale Bowen, put a pre-event off into a ditch in their Hyundai i20 R5 behind them to take their first Ypres finish and second on the BRC timesheets. Edwards’ M-sport stablemate Alex Laffey and his co-driver Stuart Loudon took their best result in the BRC with third and claimed a top 10 overall.
It was the Irish pairing of Marty Mccormack and Barney Mitchell in their Skoda Fabia R5 who drew first blood on the opening stage of 23, which soon turned into a four-way scrap with Edwards, Cave and Rhys Yates.
Yates in a similar Fabia R5 is dovetailing a selected BRC campaign alongside his WRC 2 commitments and he moved to the top of the tree on stage six.
But his hard work was to be undone on the very next stage when he and co-driver James Morgan went off the road, leaving the remaining trio to be covered by a mere eight seconds at the overnight halt.
On the final day that trio would become two as Mccormack crashed out of the event as well. Cave from the lead had his own problems with a puncture and buckled wheel as he dropped 47 seconds to Edwards.
It wasn’t plain sailing for Edwards either, as the same ECU gremlins which occurred 12 months ago returned. That didn’t hold the Welshman back though, as he wrung the neck of his Fiesta for the rest of the final day to extend his lead to
56.1 seconds at the finish.
“We had a fairly uneventful first leg and then after that on the quiet we were managing quite a severe misfire and we didn’t want to let on too much,” he said.
“We tried changing everything on the final day, like we did 12 months ago and it really tested us, but we battled on and got through it and thanks to the team for keeping us going and in the fight.
“There is something about the event as it never plays up at any other time! It was very stressful to manage everything, especially in the demanding heat, but this important win means that the championship is really on as we tie with Tom [Cave, on points].
“I think I may have an advantage over Tom on the Ulster after the win last year and I am confident I can take this form into the final two rounds.”
Results
1 Matt Edwards/patrick Walsh (Ford Fiesta R5) 2h32m12.4s; 2 Tom Cave/dale Bowen (Hyundai i20 R5) +56.1s; 3 Alex Laffey/ Stuart Loudon (Fiesta); 4 James Williams/tom Woodburn (Ford Fiesta R2T); 5 Ruairi Bell/darren Garrod (Fiesta R2T); 6 William Creighton/liam Regan (Peugeot 208).
Class winners: BRC 1: Edwards/walsh; Junior BRC:
Williams/woodburn.