Rally driver James Williams left the opening round of the Motorsport UK British Rally Championship in Cumbria wondering what might have been, as the Welsh ace suffered a puncture whilst fighting for the lead on the Malcolm Wilson Rally – the opening round of the series on Saturday.

The 25-year-old Newcastle Emlyn driver and co-driver Dai Roberts were full of optimism ahead of the new season. A new car, new sponsor partners and a new focus – as the Welsh pair eye a title assault on Britain’s premier rallying series.

Driving a four-wheel-drive, turbo-charged Ford Fiesta Rally2 for the first time in the championship – Williams was out to better his rally best of second place and third overall in the championship.

The Malcolm Wilson Rally, held in the picturesque Lake District suffered a generous helping of snow in the build-up to the rally – forcing the organisers to adjust and shorten the route – leaving just 40-miles of stages to do battle on. Williams and Roberts would start fourth on the road eager to light-up the proceedings.

Ice and snowy patches laid on the gravel, forestry stages – coupled with the low hanging sun, it made the grip very difficult to read on Saturday morning. Williams, full of optimism was quickest out of the blocks – taking the first stage win of the season to lead the rally by 0.1 seconds from World Championship driver Adrien Fourmaux, with four-time British Champion Keith Cronin another 3.8 seconds behind in third.

After a quick service to change tyres, James was back at it on the next stage – but got caught out by the icy conditions with a fifth gear spin getting the pulse racing. Gathering it up, the Newcastle Emlyn-based driver managed to keep himself in the top three on the leaderboard. However on the third test, disaster struck as Williams suffered a puncture early on in the stage – meaning he had to thread his Fiesta through the slushy conditions with just three tyres on his car. Thankfully the crew had a spare wheel and tyre in the car – so were able to change it on the roadside and head back to service.

Rallying can be a cruel mistress, but undeterred, Williams knew that you have to be in it to win it, especially with a long and demanding championship such as the BRC. Throwing caution to the wind, Williams and Roberts set two third fastest stage times to haul themselves up to fourth overall at the end of the rally. Not the result they came for, but useful championship points none the less.

“I hope my luck changes soon,” grinned Williams, who endured a mixed 2022 season.

“We wanted to come here and try and put a mark on proceedings and come out the blocks fast to show what we are capable of. I think we did that and think a top two was in the cards, but it just wasn’t meant to be!

“When you are going at these speeds, it’s like running on a knife edge – sometimes you get away with something – the next corner you could come into difficulty and we just fell onto the unlucky side with the puncture. Once you have one of those – on a short rally like this – it is impossible to make any time back on those at the front.

“We will bounce back, we have a couple of months before the next round in Scotland – so we can look at this rally [Malcolm Wilson Rally] and see where we can improve so we can be fighting for victory next time out.

“I also want to say a big thank you to all the marshals, officials and volunteers who braved the weather this weekend to put on an event for us. These guys are the unsung heroes and it really does mean a lot to have them making the show happen.”

The next round of the British Rally Championship will be hold on the Jim Clark Rally (26-27 May).

James would like to thank his team of loyal partners: Orange Amps, Mairon Freight, Fast Forward Logistics, Hyundai Power Products, Rally Cover, Michelin , Performance 1st Coaching, West Wales Lubricants, Palletline, Craftric Technology, Speedline Corse UK, Hide Away Wales, West Coast Finance, Ceir Castle Motors, Vital Equipment and the Gareth Roberts Memorial Fund.