Work and play for Tom Cave ahead of BRC penultimate round

There was plenty of hard work but also, a chance for some fun for Welsh rally driver Tom Cave, as he prepared for the penultimate round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, the Rally of Yorkshire. The 21 year-old carried out a day of gravel testing in wet and slippery conditions, before heading to Castle Combe for the annual rally extravaganza, Rallyday where he demonstrated his DMS Morris Lubricants Citroen DS3 as well as the MSL Motorsports Ford Fiesta R5.

The fifth and penultimate round of the 2013 series takes the crews close to the east coast of Yorkshire and the rally base in Pickering. It is an event that brings back not only fond memories for Tom - he won the event last year - but also, hints at the close nature of the BRC itself. On that occasion, he and fellow Welshman Osian Pryce were tied at the end of the final stage on identical times and Tom eventually claimed the win by taking the fastest stage time on the first stage of the event - by 0.1seconds.

The 2013 season is no different, with three drivers regularly battling on the stages at the front of the field - overall leader Jukka Korhonen, Cave and Irishman Alastair Fisher. Approaching Yorkshire, Tom holds second place, just ahead of Fisher and Jonnie Greer. However, with a successful day of testing ahead of the event and another scheduled, he feels that he is in the best position to claim his first win of the 2013 season.

Commenting, he said; "It was very close last year, with Osian and I tied at the end of the event and me wining on a count-back. But I know that I can win here and that will be the aim for the weekend.

"We carried out a really good pre-event test at the Higgins Rally School in Wales. The weather was pretty grim but that was perfect for us. I already have a good set-up for dry gravel but needed to work on the wet set-up and we were able to do that, over almost 90Km, so I'm very pleased."

Tom also has a second pre-event test planned in the area of the rally itself but between the two, he was in action at Rallyday at Castle Combe in Wiltshire. Representing both the International Rally Drivers' Club and the BRC, he drove his Morris Lubricants-supported Citroen DS3 around the circuit, taking Sports TV personality and WRC commentator, Jon Desborough, for a spin on the fast circuit.

He was also asked by MSL Motorsport to drive their recently-completed Ford Fiesta R5 car on the circuit. With just four miles since completion and no driver available to demonstrate the car, Tom put it through its paces, shaking it down for the company and in the process, turning a set of gravel tyres into slicks, thanks to huge sideways action and plenty of tyre-smoking donuts.

"It was great to be at Rallyday, as ever," he said "and I was very pleased to be asked to demonstrate the MSL Motorsport Fiesta. I tested the M-Sport version recently - it's a very nice car - and was more than happy to drive for MSL. I think R5 is a great category for the future and the Fiesta is certainly a wonderful example. Having been developed by M-Sport and run by MSL, this car was flawless."

Tom also met and chatted with soon-to-be FIA World Rally Championship champion Sebastien Ogier, whom he knows from Wales Rally GB in 2012, when Ogier was driving the Skoda S2000 and Tom was in the works Proton S2000. He also met with winter Olympic gold medallist Amy Williams MBE, who is currently in the process of securing her rally license so that she can compete on Wales Rally GB this year, co-driving for motorsport pundit Tony Jardine.

Rally Yorkshire itself begins on Friday 27th September, with two stages in the infamous Dalby forest in full darkness, before a late finish at the event base in Pickering. Saturday 28th will see a further five stages in and around the forest, with the first crews expected to arrive at the finish at round 5pm.