By Paul Evans
Tom Llewellin ended his first Swift Sport Championship season in fine style at the weekend, by taking victory in the final round of the series at Silverstone in his flying Peter Gwynne Motorsport Suzuki.
Victory saw the talented 17-year old driver from Haverfordwest, who won the MSA Junior Rallycross Championship title last year, finish runner-up in the highly competitive one-make series.
Race day at Silverstone started with an excellent third place finish in the opening heat – a truly great result as Llewellin had to battle through from the back row of the grid. He followed that up with second place in heat two, but things didn’t go as planned in heat three, when a clash with another competitor saw his Suzuki sustain steering damage – but luckily he’d already done enough to qualify for the semi-final.
Another second place in that race put him onto the second row of the grid for the all-important final. With the help of a well-timed early joker lap, Llewellin took the lead and was never headed as he took a brilliant victory, which cemented his second place in the series in his debut season.
Prior to racing at Silverstone on Sunday, the Welsh teenager drove a Ford Escort Mk2 on the Builth Showground Stages on Saturday, where he finished second in class on the slippery single-venue rally.
“I had a very busy weekend, which started in a rear-wheel drive historic Mk2 Ford Escort at the Builth Showground Stages, where I finished in a very pleasing second in class in very slippery conditions,” said Llewellin.
“Then at Silverstone the next day, I had a good run through practice, where I had to get used to driving a front-wheel drive car again. I was happy with third in heat one, having started from the back of the grid, and then went on to finish second in heat two. The third heat didn’t go so well which, following contact with a fellow competitor, resulted in a broken wishbone and a DNF. This put me in the middle of the grid for the semi-final, where I managed to climb up to second – which put me on the second row for the final.
“I had a good start and was fourth out of the first corner and then third half way around the first lap. I then decided to take an early joker lap and had some clean air to get my head down and get some good laps in, which brought me out in front. I maintained the lead as the other drivers took their joker, to give me the win and second place in the championship.
“Thanks to Peter, Sarah and the whole PGM team and my family and sponsors for a fantastic season.”