Welsh Rally Champion Title for Sixth Former Sam

Sixth Former, Sam M, is celebrating after winning the Welsh Rally Championship at the young age of 17 and having only just passed his driving test!

 

Sam began rallying, having never done any motorsport before in 2021, when he was just 15 and won the English Junior Rally Prize and the title of the fastest English rally driver under 17. In 2022 Sam, and his team, were runners up in the Junior Rally Championship across England Scotland and Wales but unfortunately had to miss two of the stage events due to GCSEs and Duke of Edinburgh commitments.

 

This year, Sam, still at the age of 17, and his team took on the challenge and entered the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh National Rally Championship, held earlier this month, in the Forest of Dean.

 

Sam added, “We absolutely didn’t expect to be competitive as we would be racing against others with many more years’ experience. The favourite for the championship was in his 40s and so we had our work cut out. Rallying is a sport of attrition, so experience is key. There is a famous phrase, ‘to finish first, first you have to finish’, this is doubly true for rallying because the gravel forest tracks are rough, rocky and very slippery, so it is really all about going as fast as possible, but you must look after the car and be reliable. Punctures and damage are likely and so drivers must keep a level head.”

 

Sam, who, unfortunately had to miss the first two events earlier this year because he was simply too young, passed his driving test in March this year.  The irony is that Sam still doesn’t have a road car and so his only practice is whilst he is rallying.

 

At the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh National Rally Championship, Sam and his team went straight into the first gravel event, the Plains Rally where they were sitting in second place until stage 4 of 8 where their turbo boost pipe disconnected, meaning they had severe lack of power, and couldn’t pull away up an incline!

 

The following event was the Nicky Grist Stages, named after the legend, Colin McRae’s co-driver. Here the team won for the first time in forest rallying!

 

Next was their most local event, the Woodpecker Rally based in Ludlow. Sam said, “I didn’t like this event at all, we never found a rhythm in the car, I never got into ‘the zone’, but it was on the hottest day of the year, so cockpit temperatures could well have been over 70 degrees C. They have been known to raise just over 85 degrees C in some cars! Still, we managed 3rd, and everyone had the same conditions, so no excuses for me!”

 

Then it was the big one. The Cambrian Rally, based in Llandudno, with the stages in Snowdonia. This was a truly gruelling event, well known for being the toughest in the UK. Sam had a successful day and managed to take the victory!

 

Then, last weekend, it was time for the final round, the Wyedean Rally where unfortunately they had a differential failure and were effectively left in one wheel drive! The team managed to nurse the car back into the service area and then around the course as smoothly but as fast as they could. Sam knew that to win the championship, ‘all’ they had to do was to finish, but the car was extra fragile now. But they made it to the finish and won the championship!

 

Sam and his team won the R2 class in our Ford Fiesta R2T built by M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.

 

(R2 is the name given for Junior World Rally Championship cars built under FIA regulations from 2014 to 2019).