By Paul Evans

Torrential rain, strong winds and narrow twisty unforgiving roads weren’t the ideal combination to rally a powerful rear-wheel drive Escort on asphalt for the first time, but that didn’t stop Osian Pryce finishing second on a wet, wild and extremely slippery SGC Printing Harry Flatters National A Rally.

Having starred on two gravel rallies, Suffolk-based specialists RallyXtreme was keen for Pryce to give its John Wilcox BDG engined Escort Mk2 a run on asphalt. Despite the atrocious conditions, and with no prior testing, the 25-year old Machynlleth-born driver set the third fastest time on the opening stage and was up to second after the first loop of stages, held over the famous undulating asphalt roads of the Epynt military range, north of Sennybridge.

Co-driven by Dale Furniss, from Llanfyllin in Powys, Pryce started the second loop of stages just five seconds behind Gareth James/Steffan Evans, but a misfire and an overshoot at a chicane cost him time. Nevertheless, a great final loop saw him secure an excellent second place, finishing 24 seconds behind James, after all 11 stages and 70 stage miles had been completed. Neil Williams/Peter James finished third, a further 1min 18secs behind, in another Escort Mk2.

“I thought it would be difficult to learn a new car in such wet and slippery conditions, but the Escort Mk2 was superb to drive,” said Pryce. “Despite the weather, the first loop was good – there were no heroics, but we were challenging for the National A Rally lead against Gareth James, an asphalt expert who we’d identified as something of a benchmark.

“The second loop wasn’t so good for us, as we picked up a misfire. I’ve never driven a self-fixing car before, but the misfire cleared and whilst trying to make up for lost time we overshot a chicane on stage nine. We were way too fast on the approached over a blind crest and had to reverse back, so in total we must have lost a good twenty to thirty seconds.

“The final loop of stages were the best for us, because we’d got used to the car and were able to push on fairly hard, but still without taking any risks. Combined, we would have finished fourth overall, which would have been a great result given the wet conditions and the number of top four-wheel drive cars that were contesting the event. It was great fun to drive a Tarmac-spec Escort Mk2 – it was completely different to a gravel car, but every bit as enjoyable.”

Pryce is supported by G&M Pryce Ltd, Pirelli, Steve Harkness Competition Tyres, Hills Ford and Sport Wales, and is an MSA Academy driver.