Ludlow based rallying ace James Wozencroft recovered from a brace of punctures, caused after hitting an obstacle placed in the road, to take a top 10 result on last weekend’s Carlisle based Pirelli International Rally. This marked his debut in the Revolution Wheels Rally Team.

Wozencroft belied his lack of experience in a 4 wheel drive, this being only his second ever competitive outing, and posted a string of quick times on Friday nights stages. After a cautious opening stage in the dusk, James, the 2006 British Super 1600 rally champion, put the hammer down to blast through the 5 miles of Arthurs Seat a remarkable eighth fastest. Further top ten times saw the British Rally Academy pairing end Day 1 tenth overall. Day 2 featured a further ten stages through the infamous Kielder Forest and Wozencroft and Ridge were consistently harassing those around them. Having found a rapid but comfortable pace the pair returned to second service now in ninth spot and looked all set for a career best finish on this very difficult rally. However things went wrong on Stage 11 when James encountered a large boulder that had been placed in the road. Unable to avoid the offending item he took the full impact on the left side of the car, puncturing both tyres. Thankfully the superior strength of his Revolution wheels meant he was able to limp out of the stage with minimal time loss. However the frustrated young driver was now down to eleventh position. After the car was refettled in the final service James headed back out to the forests for the final loop of three stages. A series of blistering stage times ensured that he moved ahead of team mate Rob Swann to end the opening round of the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship in tenth position overall, in a car that is two years older than those around him!

What a fantastic result. We came here aiming for some consistent times and to gain more experience in the car. I wasn’t happy with my driving on Friday night but got my head into gear and everything worked on Saturday. Geoff Jones gave me a brilliant car and it’s just unfortunate about those two punctures in Stage 11, otherwise we might have finished even higher! I can’t wait for the Jim Clark now.

James wants to thank all of his sponsor for the Pirelli rally, Revolution wheels, Thompson Suzuki, Geoff Jones Motorsport and Red Rock Wear.