SPENCER Sport driver Tom Cave produced a masterful drive on the Plains Rally as he and co-driver James Morgan won six of the event’s seven stages to secure the victory by a convincing 27 seconds.

With an eight-week gap between the third and fourth rounds of the MSA British Rally Championship - the Pirelli Carlisle Rally and the RSAC Scottish Rally - the decision was taken to enter the fourth round of the BTRDA Rally Series.

This seven-stage event, with 45 competitive miles, was used to develop set ups for the car and to test the Michelin Tyres in competitive conditions, without the pressure of having to score championship points. It was also Cave’s ‘home’ rally and so entering this event was a logical choice.

“I haven’t enjoyed a rally as much as this for a long time”, said Cave at the finish.

“We entered the event to work on set ups and to test the Michelin tyres in competitive conditions - as well as make sure we kept ourselves match fit during the gap between BRC events."In fact, everything went so well, we quickly found ourselves in front and I’m delighted to have provided Spencer Sport with its first overall victory, and to have won my home event.

“It’s clear from this result that all of us in the team are doing the right things,and if we can continue the momentum into the next round of the BRC, then we’ve achieved what we wanted to achieve this weekend."I therefore have to thank Spencer Sport for providing me with such a fantastic car. It never missed a beat throughout the rally and also thank James for his work and support inside the car.”

Bright, sunny weather was the order of the day as the 143 crews arrived in Welshpool for the start of the 50th running of the Plains Rally. The conditions meant the stages in the North Wales Forests were dry and dusty, but with Cave being seeded at number three, poor visibility caused by the dust was unlikely to be an issue.

In fact, there were no issues whatsoever for the first run through Gartheiniog Forest, with the Aberdyfi ace and Morgan, from Hirwaun, taking nine-seconds off their closest rivals, Julian Reynolds and Patrick Walsh in a Ford Focus WRC.

Whilst the tables were turned by two-seconds on stage two - Dyfi East - Cave and Morgan were fastest again by four-seconds through SS3, Dyfi West. Consequently, when crews arrived at the lunchtime service halt, Cave and Morgan had extended their advantage to 11-seconds.

The next three stages were a re-run of the first and conditions were ideal. The Fiesta was running perfectly, and they had been re-seeded to run as the first car on the road, and the sun was still shining.

The afternoon’s trio of stages - plus the addition of Pantperthog - could not have gone better and Cave and Morgan were smiling all the way through the final stage.

A faultless performance from the crew, the Spencer Sport Fiesta R5 and the Michelin tyres resulted in Cave and Morgan crossing the finish line in Welshpool, having pulled out a 27-second advantage.

It was an impressive result and signified the first-ever outright victory for the Spencer Sport team, based in Llandysul.The next event for the Spencer Sport team is the RSAC Scottish Rally that starts and finishes in Dumfries on 25 June.

• Spencer Sport teammates Jamie Jukes and Dave Williams in their Mitsubishi Mirage would have been a assured a top-10 finish in respect of their impressive times on six of the event’s seven stages, but a light roll on stage two saw them lose too much time to realise their true potential.

The team was pleased that the performance of the Mitsubishi Mirage is unquestioned and a clean run could have netted them a very positive finishing position.