Tom Cave Wins 2012 Bulldog International
The IRDC's youngest member Tom Cave, partnered by Craig Parry, celebrated his first British Rally Championship win on the Bulldog International rally driving his new Citroen DS3 R3 rally car.
The twenty year old Welshman triumphed on his 'home' event, finishing three seconds ahead of Keith Cronin/Marshall Clarke. Tom also won the Pirelli 'Star driver' award and hopes to build on this success as the BRC series progresses as well as continuing to impress in the newly created Citroen Racing Trophy.
Taking delivery of the Citroen just before the rally meant that Tom completed only minimum testing, providing driver and team with a multitude of challenges; the main one being converting the DS3 to gravel spec by DMS, however, Tom was satisfied that the set-up they developed performed brilliantly in the white heat of competition.
Tom's first stage was a little slower than his usual pace as he became acclimatised to his new car, pushing harder in stages two and three. After Tom's consistent performance in the first three stages he was confident he could push even harder through the next three without taking unnecessary risks. What would turn out to be the final three stages of the rally saw similar tactics from Tom, with a progressively more aggressive push on stages 4, 5 and 6.
More stages were due to take place, but following safety concerns surrounding lighting issues, the Bulldog Rally came to a close after stage six, securing Tom and Craig's first MSA British Rally Championship victory. Tom's next event will be the Pirelli International round of the BRC, centred around 100 miles of Welsh and Cumbrian forests on 27th & 28th April. Another two-day event, the Pirelli International promises to provide more challenges, though Tom and his team remain confident they've discovered the formula for success!
29th March, 2012