William Creighton led a magnificent Castrol MEM Rally Team one-two on the Nicky Grist Stages (Saturday 12 July) when he won the event in his Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 – finishing just 2.6 seconds ahead of team-mate Meirion Evans.
After a number of recent asphalt rallies, the Castrol MEM Rally Team contested the Nicky Grist Stages in preparation for the next round of the Probite British Rally Championship – the Voyonic Grampian Forest Rally (8/9 August).
Therefore, both drivers used the Builth Wells-based event to experiment with several different set-ups during the day, and the two different grip levels – loose gravel on the morning loop of four stages and harder more abrasive conditions in the afternoon – proved ideal for the team as it tried different settings and rediscovered the art of high temperature tyre management!
Running car number one, William and co-driver Liam Regan had the benefit of a dust-free road on the morning run the through Monument, Route 60, Halfway and Bowlsey (Crychan) stages – although as the first four-wheel drive car on the road they had to deal with the worst of the loose gravel surface conditions.
They nevertheless set a clean sweep of fastest stage times, arriving at the mid-day service halt on the Builth Wells RFC pitch with an 11.1 second lead. They set one more fastest stage time in the afternoon and hold on to win – in a strong field of 142 starters, which included several BRC rivals.
Meirion lost 12 seconds with a spin on the opening stage, with the majority of the time lost thanks to the car failing to engage reverse gear.
He and co-driver Dale Furniss then had a puncture between SS2 and 3, meaning that they couldn’t put two new tyres on for SS4 as planned – and with grip levels compromised they arrived at mid-distance service in third place, 16.6 seconds behind the leaders.
Meirion enjoyed a good clean run in the afternoon, with a sheep avoiding flick of the steering wheel on SS6 his only drama. He set fastest time on three of the afternoon’s four stages, which moved him from third to second to give the Castrol MEM Rally Team a superb one-two result at the top of the podium.
William Creighton said: “We were here to learn, but it’s great to win. It was great to score a one-two for the team and it’s another tremendous result for Melvyn Evans Motorsport. A big thank you to the team, to Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and to everyone who supports us. It’s a real privilege to drive the Castrol Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 and it was great to start the Nicky Grist Stages as car number one and finish as number one!”
Meirion Evans said: “Without a doubt, this is my best performance on gravel in the Castrol Toyota GR Yaris. We had a good run earlier this year on the Malcolm Wilson Stages, where a puncture cost us the win, but this felt a lot more comfortable and things feel a lot more natural. I’m learning how to be fast on gravel. You lose time if you push too much and drift onto the loose, so I’m driving with a lot more patience now and it’s paying dividends. Our spin on the opening stage cost us twelve seconds, so it’s good to know we had the speed to win, but other than that it was a clean run and the speed has been good.”
