RISING Welsh rally star Ioan Lloyd will take on the biggest challenge of his career so far when he contests this year's FIA Junior European Rally Championship.

Lloyd, 22-years old from Llandysul in West Wales, and his co-driver Sion Williams, will compete in the high profile international series in a Peugeot 208 Rally4 from Tagai Racing Technology (TRT) based in Hungary.

Lloyd and Williams won the chance to step up to this incredible series by winning last year's Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup.

The prize for winning the Stellantis Cup, which included rallies in the UK and Ireland, was a significant budget contribution towards competing in one of the most competitive and prestigious junior rally championships in the world.

Lloyd said: “Obviously the ambition for the season is to do as well as we can but it's also a big learning curve and the competition is going to be absolutely fierce.

“We have to do our best and give it 100%. It will be a fantastic life experience: to travel to all these countries and get to compete at such a high level is something we're really lucky to be able to do.”

After a winter of hard work, Lloyd has secured the balance of the budget required thanks to the support of a group of faithful sponsors and is now able to commit to the six-round European competition. In the Junior ERC Lloyd and Williams will be competing against some of the best young talent from across Europe.

Lloyd said: “We've only got this path of funding from winning the Stellantis Cup for one year, so we've got to make the most of it. We're not guaranteed anything after this year, so we really need to try and do our best to maximise the opportunity.”

The six-round championship opens in Spain on April 4-6 with the Rally Sierra Morena and then visits Hungary in May, Poland in June, Italy in July, the Czech Republic in August, and Croatia in early October.

In addition, Lloyd hopes to add his local Rali Ceredigion over the first weekend of September to his schedule. Though the Welsh event is a round of the FIA European Rally Championship, this year Ceredigion does not form part of the junior schedule.

“We need to say a massive thank you to all the people and companies that are supporting us. There's a whole mix of people and I'm really lucky to have all of them on board,” said one of the UK’s most talented rising rally stars.

Ioan Lloyd is proud to be supported by David Byrne Auto Repairs, West Wales Rally Spares, Huw Jeffreys and Sons Plumbing and Heating Engineers, Castell Howell Foods, Mark Jukes Containers, Abba Tree Specialist, Motordrive Seats, Towy Electrical Ltd, Atech Racing, Allglass Anglia, Garej Tyn y Pistyll, Suirway Forklifts, ABC Autosport Bearings and Components, Monit Motorsport, BCC, Solid Designs, Neil Spain, Mintex, 2300 Club John Easson Award, Kielder WT, Gareth Owens Building Contractor, Safety Devices International Ltd, TRS Safety Equipment, Pro Dent, Gomer Press, Wyn Thomas Heating and Towy Works.

Apr 4-6 Rally Sierra Morena (Spain)

May 9-11 Rally Hungary

Jun 13-15 Rally Poland

Jul 4-6 Rally di Roma Capitale (Italy)

Aug 15-17 Barum Czech Rally Zlin (Czech Republic)

Oct 3-5 Croatia Rally