Kick Energy Fiesta SportTrophy UK (FST UK) Championship leader Elfyn Evans won the FST UK Nations’ Cup event at the Rally Show at Chatsworth, sponsored by Kick Energy last weekend.  The non-championship event took place within the specially constructed one-mile stage around the grounds of Chatsworth House, Derbyshire.  Four of the top FST UK and Fiesta SportChallenge (FSC) competitors from England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland attended the event to uphold national pride and win the chance to drive the Kick Energy Ford Focus WRC 02 around the Chatsworth stage in the FIA Category cars event at the end of the day..

Pirelli Challenge rally winner Damien Smith, 28 from Silsden, alongside co-driver Frazer Hutchinson were selected to represent England in their Sykespeed Motorsport prepared Fiesta ST.  John Boyd, 23 from West Linton, who currently holds second in the FST UK standings and his co-driver from 2009, Fred Bell, represented Scotland in their Border Toyota backed Fiesta ST.  Ireland was represented by current FSC championship leader and Jim Clark Challenge rally winner Jonathan Cunningham, 26 from Galway together with co-driver Rich Millener, who became an honorary Galwayman for the day.  The Irish crew were competing in their self-prepared Fiesta ST.  Pre-event favourites, however, were FST UK championship leaders Elfyn Evans, 21 from Machynlleth and co-driver Andrew Edwards representing Wales in their Gwyndaf Evans Motors prepared Fiesta ST.  The Welsh pair have the pedigree of winning the 2008 FST UK and Ireland championships and are unbeaten so far in 2010, so expectations were high heading into the event.

The three round knock-out competition began with each driver making three runs over the stage, after which the nation with the slowest combined time was eliminated.  After setting the fastest time on his opening run, Scotland’s John Boyd had hoped to progress to Round 2.  His second run was not quite as successful however; a broken driveshaft cost him over ten seconds and with it any chance of progressing further in the competition.  Jonathan Cunningham also suffered damage in the opening round, sliding wide on the exit of a corner and damaging the rear axle.  The damage was not enough to force the Galwayman out of the event but would seriously hamper his chances of making it to the final.  Elfyn Evans ended the opening round of the competition in second place opting for a more measured approach to ensure his progression to the second round.  It was England’s Damien Smith who topped the leader board after the first three runs, striking just the right blend of speed and consistency.

Round 2 would be decided with just a single run over the stage, with the slowest once again being eliminated from the competition.  The damage sustained in the opening round cost Ireland’s Jonathan Cunningham a shot of making it to the final in this second round knock-out.  Smith was once again quickest, beating Evans by less than a half a second with just one round remaining.

The final round came down to an ‘all or nothing’ single run shootout between England and Wales.  England’s Smith improved on his time from the earlier rounds, but it was Evans who was quickest for Wales, overcoming the Englishman’s early advantage to win the chance to drive the Kick Energy Focus WRC.

Following his victory, Evans was given a brief introduction to the Focus WRC 02, by M-Sport engineer Tim Jackson, before being let loose in the car for two runs during the FIA category event.  Despite never having driven the car before and his only previous four wheel drive experience coming in the form of a brief run in a Focus WRC 07 for a test at Carlisle Airport, Evans was quickly up to speed and every bit as committed around the one mile, mixed surface stage as he had been in his regular GpN Fiesta ST.  Only a stall at the start line on his second run prevented him from posting what would have undoubtedly been a competitive time.

Nations Cup Winner, Elfyn Evans said:

“It’s been a really enjoyable day all round.  It was great to get the chance to drive the Focus, the only previous experience of driving a car like it was around the Airport where there is much more open space.  It’s only when you get on a proper stage that you really get a feel of what they can do, I would have loved to have a few more runs in the car to really get a handle of it.”