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Tom Cave relishing close fight in Scotland

24/05/2013
by Andrew TradeWeb Support
Mid Wales rally driver Tom Cave is relishing the prospect of a close fight when he travels north for the second round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, the Jim Clark Rally.
 
It is an event he enjoys, having finished second last year to eventual champion Keith Cronin but knows that the level of competition is already incredibly high in the series.
 
Buoyed by third place on the opening round, the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation, Aberdyfi-based Tom, co-driver Ieuan Thomas from Llanelli and the Morris Lubricants Davies MotorSport Team are looking forward to a return to the sealed Scottish lanes for the UK's only mainland closed-road rally.
 
The first of this year's two asphalt events, the Jim Clark is renowned for its combination of tight and twisty lanes which open to faster and more flowing sections across the hilltops close to the border between England and Scotland.
 
While Tom will also be encouraged by his performance last year, winning several stages on his way to second, the level of performance on the season opener in Cumbria four weeks ago clearly demonstrated that winning this year's BRC title will be no walk in the park.
 
While he claimed his personal best result on the event, finishing third, he knows that the brace of young drivers in identical Citroen DS3 R3s means it will be hard work for him and Ieuan in their Morris Lubricants-supported example.
 
Tom said: "I'm really looking forward to the Jim Clark. We had a great result there last year- second to Keith - and of course I'm hoping to go one better this year. I know the competition will be tight - there are a lot of very quick drivers in the series and Jukka [Korhonen] and Alistair [Fisher] will probably be very quick, as they were on the Pirelli.
 
"I'm confident we have the pace on tarmac to do well despite the competition and I know the event reasonably well now, having competed there several times. It's a tricky event but I seem to be able to find a good rhythm on the stages, whether they are the faster, more open roads or the tighter and twistier ones.
"Weather is always a big game-changer on the Jim Clark as well. The rain can come in or disappear very quickly and having the right tyres on or in the car can make a huge difference. We are allowed three basic Pirelli tyres - a hard slick, medium/soft slick and an intermediate pattern that we can hand-cut into a full wet pattern as necessary.
 
“We are only allowed 16 tyres for the event, so depending on the weather, we might have slicks on the car and inters or wets as spares to give us some insurance in case the weather turns, like it did to us last year."
 
The event will feature an official shakedown on the morning of Friday, May 31 before the traditional ceremonial start and superspecial stage in the centre of Duns, birthplace of the famous Scottish Formula One driver, from 7pm.
 
Two loops of three stages will be run on Friday evening, including two runs over the 16-mile stage as light begins to fade. Saturday sees 10 more stages over almost 100 miles, run as four loops before the first crews are expected to reach the finish ramp at Kelso racecourse at around 5pm.

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