Media team wins class and finishes 33rd overall In Wales
• Jardine completes Wales Rally GB for a record 24th time
• The GT Sport Telegraph Team overcomes challenges in Welsh forests
F1 pundit Tony Jardine has set a new record by finishing his 24th ever UK round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC)*, winning his class and placing 33rd overall.
Making a successful one-off return to rallying over the weekend (4–7 October), Tom Cary — sports correspondent for The Telegraph — was co-driving for Jardine at Wales Rally GB after eight years since last participating in a WRC round, with limited refresher training ahead of the event due to arriving in Wales straight from the Ryder Cup.
Jardine and Cary won national class 4 of the Wales Rally GB WRC event following a challenging few days which included motion sickness in the car for Cary on Friday’s treacherous stages in wet conditions, namely Slate Mountain, and two punctured tyres during the longest and most gruelling day of the rally on Saturday.
The GT Sport Telegraph Team navigated the Welsh forests in a Group N Mitsubishi Evo 9 GT which was previously driven by Matt Edwards, the newly crowned champion of the 2018 MSA British Rally Championship.
Cary said, “We had such a good start to the last leg of the rally, keeping our pace up and thoroughly enjoying the stages. We were really pumped and looking forward to the final stage when it was cancelled, which was a real shame and a bit of an anti-climax. It has, however, been an incredible four days for us in Wales competing on a world-class event, I’m so glad we were able to really give it everything we had during the final morning on the stages in and around Llandudno.”
Jardine commented, “Considering all the trials and tribulations we have had, it’s fantastic to finish first in class. From being very sick in the car on Friday, Tom came back to full form and his note calling on the final day was immaculate. I really can’t praise him enough especially as he was thrown back in at the deep end on a WRC event with such little time to prepare.”
M-Sport Ford’s Sebastien Ogier took victory at Wales Rally GB, 10.6 seconds ahead of Toyota’s Jari-Matti Latvala, making it now an even fiercer championship battle at the top of the WRC driver standings.
