WELSH rally star Ioan Lloyd overcame an early puncture to score important points in the Probite British Rally Championship on the Jim Clark Memorial Rally (May 24/25).

Lloyd headed to the Scottish Borders to contest the third round of the Junior BRC in his Peugeot 208 Rally4 and finished fourth in the category despite losing four minutes on the opening special stage when he had to stop and change a puncture.

The Jim Clark Rally, which celebrates the memory of the 1960s Grand Prix star who lived near Duns, covered 14 special stages through Friday evening and Saturday in a route of 87 stage miles. For this event only, the 21-year old from Llandysul had the hugely experienced Gwynfor Jones as his co-driver as his regular co-driver Sion Williams was away.

Unfortunately, after losing the first special stage at Langton Mill following an earlier accident, Lloyd hit problems early in the first long stage of Abbey St Bathans on Friday evening when he picked up a front puncture.

“I presume we picked it up in a cut. There was nothing obvious,” said Lloyd.

“I knew as soon as we had the puncture that we had to stop and change it.

I just remember what happened to Osian Pryce before. I just pulled in as soon as I could and it cost us four minutes.”

Two years earlier, Pryce had been excluded from the rally for continuing with a puncture.

It was a big blow but Ioan dug deep and kept pushing on over the rest of the Friday evening and Saturday stages to try and rescue some championship points. The car ran faultlessly across the rest of the rally.

“We managed to claw back to the fourth in the JBRC and still get some decent points so it wasn't a bad result.

“I think we managed a fastest time on Saturday morning and we were close to the boys, but it's difficult to drive at maximum when you’re not in the race.

“We we're just picking up the pieces so we're happy enough.

“We still showed decent pace in tricky conditions and the tarmac up there is so tricky, especially in the rain.

“Even in the dry, it wasn't even giving you as much grip as you'd be used to in Ireland or at home.”

Lloyd will now re-focus for his next event, round four of the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup on the famous Donegal Rally in Ireland on June 21-23.