Having finished runner-up on his two previous appearances, Osian Pryce hopes that it will be third time lucky as he attempts to win this weekend’s Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally (9/10 August).
The 31-year old Machynlleth-born driver heads to Aberdeenshire lying fifth in the 2024 Probite British Rally Championship standings – and with two scores already dropped and his bonus points scoring joker yet to play, Osian can count every point he scores on the remaining rounds. Whilst this leaves no margin for error, it puts him in a strong position for the title.
Osian contested the Grampian Rally for the first time in 2021, with a second-place finish moving him from fourth to second in the drivers’ standings at the time. He returned in a Melvyn Evans Motorsport-prepared Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 in 2022 and despite running first on the road and sweeping the loose gravel off the racing line, he once again finished second to give him valuable points towards becoming British rally champion.
Co-driven this time by best friend Rhodri Evans, Osian will tackle this weekend’s Grampian Rally in a Dom Buckley RSC-prepared Ford Fiesta Rally2.
It will be Osian’s first gravel rally for 17 weeks and having not driven the Fiesta Rally2 on the loose since the Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages on 13 April, he will have to quickly reacquaint himself on a very brief pre-event shakedown test.
“Having finished runner-up on the Grampian twice before, it’s a case of third time lucky when we return this weekend,” says Osian.
“I’m really looking forward to the event because I feel that we’re quite competitive on gravel and the extra stage mileage the rally has this year will make it an even more challenging event.
“Running first on the road in 2022 was very difficult, as we lost time sweeping the loose gravel and because of that we were in third, twenty seconds off the lead, by the end of the first loop. We’ll start third this time, which will be a good road position if it’s damp but of course there is always a risk of dust if it’s dry.
“Whilst there isn’t anything we can do about the weather we have been studying the data to try and fine-tune the Fiesta Rally2 so it’s more akin to my driving style. We don’t have the budget to test, but we hope we’ve found a couple of quick-fix solutions to put on the car. We hope to try these out at a short shakedown test in Scotland just prior to the event.
“The Grampian is a key event in our 2024 British Rally Championship campaign. We need a good result, and ideally a win, to keep our title challenge on course, and that’s what we’ll be aiming to do.”
Osian is supported by The Leading Edge, Michelin, Demon Tweeks, Bell Racing helmets, OMP race suits, Hills Ford, DL Jones Pontrobert Ltd (coach and taxi hire), MotoFit (performance training), Redkite Glass, Cwmni Diogel (Security and Event Management), Kitchen Door Changer, Speedy Sofas, Gorsaf Betrol Tymawr/Rheidol, and his own family-run specialist building firm G+M Pryce.
