Rhuddlan rally driver Luke Francis endured the heat and dust of Saturday's (July 13) Nicky Grist Stages to retain his lead in the Pirelli MSA Welsh Forest Rally Championship but with a reduced point's advantage over his closest rival.
With temperatures hovering around 30 Celsius as competitors left the Builth Wells start, competitors could expect a hot and dusty day while the dry abrasive forest tracks would take their toll on tyres.
Leading the field away was Dinas Mawddwy's Elfyn Evans, giving Ford's new Fiesta R5 its UK competition debut before taking it to Finland for its first appearance in the World Rally Championship. Not surprisingly, he quickly set the pace in the event and was comfortably ahead of the rest of the field when, on the fourth of the seven stages, a warning light appeared on the dash and he withdrew from the event rather than risk serious damage to the new car's engine.
That promoted Scotsman Euan Thorburn into the lead in his Ford Focus World Rally Car while the leading Welsh championship contender would have been Ireland's Connor McCloskey if he had not crashed his Subaru Impreza heavily on the same stage. While the car was heavily damaged, McCloskey and co-driver Francis Regan escaped without serious injury.
That left Stalybridge driver Alex Allingham and Luke Francis to battle it out both for overall Welsh championship honours and for the Group N category for near showroom specification cars.
When the cars returned to the Royal Welsh Showground and the event finish, it was the Impreza of Allingham and co-driver Chris Williams that had taken maximum championship points moving them from fourth to second in the championship standings, behind Francis and his co-driver, Colwyn Bay's John H Roberts. Meanwhile Llangefni's Keith Parry and co-driver Eryl Evans from Llanon remain in third place in their Impreza while McCloskey and Regan slip to fourth.
An Impressive performance by St Albans driver Dan O'Brien and co-driver Mark Glennerster from Swindon saw them take the World Rally Car class in their Ford Focus, with Dan the top under 25 driver.
David L Roberts from Corwen continues to lead the two wheel drive category in his Mark 2 Ford Escort but Leigh's Rob Dennis has moved his similar car to within a single point in the championship standings.
While Luke Francis continues to lead the under 25 category, James Watkins from Welshpool moved ahead of absent Haverfordwest driver Ben Llewellin into second position.
With two rounds of the championship remaining just 13 points stands between the top two in the championship with 25 points up for grabs for an event win, while there are still plenty of battles to be resolved in the various classes.The next round of the Championship is the Woodpecker Rally. Based at Ludlow the event takes place on 31st August.
