Domination becomes disappointment for Tom Cave in Ulster

A dominant start to the fourth round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, Rally NI, ended in disappointment and frustration for Welsh rally driver Tom Cave. The 21 year-old, partnered by Ieuan Thomas, was leading the event by almost 40 seconds approaching the seventh stage of the event, when he slid off the road and into a ditch. They returned on the second day under Rally2 regulations and managed to finish the event in tenth place and in the process, claim nine valuable points for the championship to climb to second overall in the standings, with two rallies left to run.

Prior to the event, Cave was bullish in his approach, knowing that he needed a win under his belt to reinforce his 2013 title aspirations and to achieve this, would need to push from the start of the first stage. He was buoyed by his pace on the first asphalt event of the series, the Jim Clark Rally in Scotland and he and Thomas set out their stall early, in their DMS Morris Lubricants team Citroen DS3 R3.

Rain throughout the morning of the first day meant that the tarmac stages were particularly slippery - perfect conditions for Tom and Ieuan. They took the win on the first stage of the event, immediately establishing a lead of almost nine seconds over local hero, Alastair Fisher. They took a further two stage wins and a pair of second places in the first six stages, to lead the event by almost 40 seconds going into the last stage of the first day.

However, things would go awry five miles into the stage, when their Citroen DS3 slid off the road at low speed following a left hand bend and became stuck in a ditch. The car was undamaged but was too far off the road to get back on under its own steam and with none of the legendary Irish rally fans to help, Tom and Ieuan were forced to retire from the first day of the event.

They returned on the second day under Rally2 regulations, albeit with 10 minutes of penalties. They set consistently quick times, with a further two stage wins on the way to the finish, climbing back to tenth overall in the process. They finally finished the event 9min30s behind the winner.

The result means Cave moves past Fisher into second place in the overall standings, one point ahead of the Irishman and 17 adrift of series leader, Jukka Korhonen.

Commenting at the end of the event, Tom said: "Going off as we did was really bad luck - it was the kind of off that could happen to anyone and it was our turn!

"It was probably the most demanding event I have done - the stages were fast, narrow and very bumpy and the pace was so fast that the smallest error could have a big effect, as several crews found out.

"At the start of the event, I was quite pleased when I knew it was going to rain - I prefer it when the conditions are damp or wet and many people tend to be a little hesitant, so we decided to have a big push right from the start and see how the first stage went. When I saw that we had taken nine seconds out of Alastair [Fisher] and 26 out of Jukka [Korhonen], I knew the pace was right.

"I didn't realise what our lead was, going into the last stage on Friday as I was still pushing to make sure we had a good advantage on Saturday.

"We approached a left hand corner underneath trees, where the road was dirty from previous cars dragging mud onto the bend. The back end stepped out and although I got the car straightened up, it ran onto the grass, which dragged it into the side of the road and then, the ditch. There weren't any spectators at that point, so that was it - we were stuck.

"On the positive side, we managed to improve our position in the championship, moving up to second. We set some really good stage times on Friday and on Saturday and our pace was right up there. I think we have shown on the last two events that we have the speed to be at the front so we need to carry that forward and so the same in Yorkshire and make sure we get another good result."

The next event is Rally Yorkshire, the penultimate round of the 2013 season, over the last weekend of September.