Tom Williams completed a rollercoaster of a Neste Rally Finland (1-4 August) with a magnificent performance on the final day, which saw the only British driver in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship bounce back from a cracked sump and a roll to set some very impressive stage times in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta R2T.
The 20-year old from Oxfordshire, who is one of the youngest drivers in this year’s series, had arrived at the fastest ‘Finnish Grand Prix’ round with a clear aim – to drive within one second of a kilometre against the very fastest and most experienced JWRC competitors. Having been four seconds per kilometre slower when he started his JWRC journey last year, achieving his objective in Finland highlights both how quickly Tom has developed as a driver and his true potential.
Co-driven by 31-year old Nottingham-based Phil Hall, Tom started well – setting the sixth fastest time on the Shakedown stage, against 13 other JWRC crews and 22 other class RC4 drivers, many of them local Scandinavian competitors.
Instead of being able to quickly gain a good rhythm and confidence on the extremely high-speed roads, the opening loop of stages was made all the more tricky by Tom getting caught in the dust of another car that was slowed by a puncture. It wasn’t ideal, especially on his first event after a six week break in the JWRC, yet Tom arrived at the first mid-day service halt in ninth place.
On the first stage out of service SS7 (Moksi 2), Tom came across a large rock that had been pulled out into the middle of the road by a car ahead. On one of the fastest flowing sections of the rally, the rock was just after a blind crest, sitting directly on the racing line, giving Tom no opportunity to avoid it – with the impact cracking the sump and forcing him out of the first leg. He returned under the Rally 2 rules the following day, but on SS14 (Kakaristo 1, that featured roads from the legendary Ouninpohja stage) Tom rolled into the trees after sliding a little wide on an adverse cambered corner. After more magnificent repair work by the M-Sport team, Tom finished the event strongly, setting fifth, sixth, seventh and sixth fastest JWRC times on the event’s final four stages (SS20, 21, 22 and 23) to finish a point-scoring 10th in JWRC and 48th overall.
As part of their partnership with the RAF Reserves, Tom and Phil also hosted guests from both the 501 and 504 Squadrons at Rally Finland and were honoured to welcome The Defence Attaché, Wing Commander Mark Taylor, who visited them in the Jyväskylä service park.
Tom said: “It’s been a rollercoaster of a Rally Finland, but I’m really pleased to have reached the finish of such a tough event. We weren’t on the pace to start off with, but we knew exactly where we were losing time and worked hard to regain our focus and find a good rhythm. Even after our accident, we were able to come back a lot stronger and we set our most competitive times on the final day of the event to finish very strongly.
“We were unlucky on the first day, because we hit a big rock in the middle of a flat in fifth gear corner. It was on a really smooth and fast section of road, so it was very unexpected and there was no way we could avoid it. The impact cracked the sump, and as it was on the first stage of the afternoon loop we had to switch everything off to make sure that we didn’t damage the engine and could continue the following day.
“We were very disappointed, yet more determined to come out fighting on day two. With some set-up changes and a repaired front end, we set two good stage times on Saturday, catching the car ahead of us both times. We were really enjoying the classic Finnish stages and pushing hard, and going into the famous Kakaristo stage we had a great rhythm and the car felt good. Unfortunately, on a right-hander we slid a little wide on a deceptively loose line which, with an adverse camber, slightly tightened and caused us to pirouette into the trees. The spectators later told us that Markku Alén had gone off that the same corner years ago in a Lancia Delta S4 – so if it’s true, I’m in good company!
“We were gutted not to be able to finish the day, and Phil and I had to wait until night time for a pick up truck to come and collect us. Despite a lot of damage, the M-Sport team did a fantastic job to repair the car and enable us to restart Sunday’s final leg of the event.
“This year is a big learning process, and it was important for us to get straight back into the Finnish forests and focus on our driving. So on the last day we increased the intensity even more, pushed even harder than we had done before and finished the event with four very good stage times, which is what we know we are capable of. We were very pleased to be able to bounce back and finish so strongly, and we leave Finland having learnt an awful lot and in a very positive frame of mine.
“We’re now looking forward to the final, and double points scoring, round of the JWRC, which is our home Wales Rally GB [3-6 October].”