Cave knew that he had it all
to play for on the final round of the series. There were four drivers
in the running for the title, including Pryce. However, one, Jonnie
Greer, went out of the running early on, when the wheel bolts on his car
sheared off in the first stage.
That left Cave, Pryce and
double former champion Keith Cronin in the hunt. Cronin had to finish
fifth or better to claim the title but that didn't stop Tom dominating
the event to begin with. He was fastest on the 16mile Dalby stage on
Friday evening in the dark, despite several moments on what he described
as very tricky conditions.
He started Saturday in the
same vein, taking the win on the first two of the day's five stages, to
head the field by five seconds over Pryce by the mid-point. However,
there would be late scare for Tom, as he clipped a bank in the
penultimate stage and bent the rear suspension beam on his Citroen DS3.
Following a short service, where the Davies Motorsport Services
technicians carried out running repairs, he dug deep for the final
stage, knowing that it all came down to this final timed test.
He went through fastest
again and by the end of the event, he and Pryce were tied on identical
total stage times, down to the last 0.1 second. However, championship
regulations state that in the event of a tie, the best performance on
the first stage decides and his win on the opening test clinched the
victory for Tom.
While Cronin went on to
finish the event a distant third place, he takes the 2012 title for the
third time. However, the result means that Tom cements second on the
championship in only his first season of contesting the full BRC. He
also claims second in the 2012 Citroen Racing Trophy UK as well as
winning the Citroen Junior Trophy and with it, €10,000 towards an entry
in the Rally du Var in November.
Commenting at the finish, Tom said: "Of
course I am delighted to have won the finale of the series, my second
win of the year but at the same time, gutted to have missed out on the
2012 BRC title.
"We knew that it would
be a big task to take the title - not only did we have to do well but we
needed Keith to have a problem and that isn't something that happens
very often. I congratulate him on his third BRC title - it's a big
achievement.
"We did have a fantastic
battle with Osian throughout the event though and when I hit the bank
on the fifth stage, I thought it was over for us. But the boys fixed the
car up as well as they could - it felt as good as it had all rally -
and we gave it everything we had in the last stage; I couldn't believe
it when Craig told me we were on the same time.
"For me, second in the
BRC and the Citroen Racing Trophy and winning the Citroen Junior Trophy
is a good result, particularly in my first full BRC season and the year
after I took the BTRDA Production Cup. It's been a tough year but a
rewarding one - we have had highs and lows, lost and found sponsors and
hopefully demonstrated that we're serious about rallying and getting to
the top.
"I have so many people
to thank; my late Father, who would have been very proud, my mum and
family, Craig, the Davies Motorsport Services team, supporters from the
Trefeddian Hotel, HN Nuttal Foods, Cambrian Training in Welshpool and of
course, all our fans and followers.
"We're now looking into the Rallye du Var and hopefully, we'll be able to go to France and see how we perform."
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