Leading favourite Kris Meeke had to stop at the end of Day 1 at the Roger Albert Clark Rally after an eventful first day of the event.
In the opening stages, Osian Pryce and Rhodri Evans lead the way after SS2 followed by Kris Meeke in 2nd 1s behind and Martin McCormack in 3rd just 5s behind the leader.
Already the Welsh forests have fought back. Chris Ingram in the TR7 V8 was stuck in 4th gear, dropping him a lot of time in stage. Other crews too finding the opening stage a challenge.
Reigning BHRC Champions Roger Chilman and Patrick Walsh had to retire after the first stage from a mechanical issue.
By stage 4 we had a new rally leader in Kris Meeke after a blistering time through SS4 put him ahead of Pryce who now ties with Solberg for second.
But things was to go downhill for the ulsterman, through SS5 and SS6, a mechanical issue costing Meeke over 6mins to bow out of the rally lead – handing it back to Pryce with Solberg chasing hard.
And that’s how it ended as Solberg went 10s faster than anyone else to go close the gap to Pryce to just 1s after 38 competitive miles. McCormack rounded out the top three.
Day 1 Standings
1. Pryce/Evans 43:16
2. Solberg/Edmondson +1s
3. McCormack/Mitchell +26s
4. Barrett/Noble +1m:16s
5. Pritchard/Clarke +1m:18s
