25 Yr. old Matt Edwards with Co-Driver Sam Collis took his maiden
rally victory on Sundays Mid-Wales Stages Rally in Newtown, following a late
package offered by Geoff Jones Motorsport to contest the event in a Subaru
Impreza N12.
The 'Swift Group Ltd' and Dunlop Tyres supported driver took fastest
times on all 6 stages to win the event by a staggering margin of nearly 3
minutes, despite this being the Welshman’s first outing in a four-wheel-drive
car since a 3rd overall on the 2008 Cambrian Rally; this drive being another
impressive showing in an unfamiliar car on unfamiliar
territory.
With a late morning start from Newtown, the pairing; normally found in a 1.4
engine MG ZR this year, would lead the field away as car 1 on the event followed
by several World Rally Cars, set for 5 fantastic stages in the Hafren and
Myherin forests near Llanidloes. As is now seemingly customary for Edwards, he
would immediately get to grips with his new stead and promptly set a time 25
seconds faster than anybody else through the first nine mile stage, and followed
that up with a further 16 second blitz of his rivals in the following test to
head to service with a 41 second lead;
"We seemed to settle in to a really good rhythm straight away which
is always important, and I felt comfortable with the pace and handling of the
car not long after the start of the stage, so we built on that as the stage
progressed and it seems to have done the trick" exclaimed Edwards as he stepped
out of the Prodrive built machine. "The car is a lot more powerful yet
progressive than the last Subaru I drove in '08' but it’s a big challenge to
totally change your driving style for four wheel drive again just a week after
doing an event in two wheel drive car, but with the package offered by Geoff
Jones to his customers, we are able to do a few miles testing beforehand to ease
the transition", he explained.
The afternoon would see two more long stages in Myherin then a final
blast round the Sweet Lamb 'Spectator Stage, so with two fresh Dunlops on the
front of the car and working well, the duo would head off to consolidate their
lead and aim to gain more experience of the radically different car. Yet the
on-form crew would slice a further 30 seconds out of their closest challenger in
just 9 miles, finding the fast and flowing stages to their liking despite having
no experience competing on many them prior to this event; a feat that was
repeated on the penultimate stage, with a good flowing drive netting them a
further 39 second cushion.
After one more service interval and the final four mile Sweet Lamb
Stage completed in another fastest time, Edwards and Collis would return to
Newtown with a winning margin of 2 minutes 51 seconds; Edwards first overall
rally victory;
"I’m obviously over the moon with what’s happened today, as besides
the result, we stuck to what we planned to do, drove our own rally to get some
experience of the car, and just kept it clean and tidy without making mistakes,
but that also usually ends up being the fastest way anyway it seems! I owe a
huge thanks to Geoff Jones Motorsport in making this event happen, also The
Swift Group, Dunlop Tyres, Competition Car Insurance and Vulcan Fasteners, all
of whom have helped us to the extent it wouldn’t have happened otherwise, so I
am pleased for them that we have justified their effort and input with the win!
I’d also like to thank all at Newtown and District Motor club for their
efforts in what has been a hard week for all involved in last week’s tragic
accident involving Martyn; the stages were fantastic and he would have been
proud!"
Edwards and Collis will resume their BTRDA 1400 campaign on the
Quinton Stages on July 10th, buoyed by two impressive wins in two weekends.
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