DRIVING the Spencer Sport Mitsubishi Mirage, Jamie Jukes from Llandysul and co-driver Dave Williams from Mold got their season off to an impressive start on the Llandovery-based Red Kite Stages.

After losing time due to a puncture on the first stage, they fought back over the remaining five to finish fourth overall.

Following its inaugural outing in the Wales Rally GB in November, the team’s R5 specification Mitsubishi has since been back to Sweden for a rebuild, before it returned to the United Kingdom last week.

Jukes carried out a few short tests on the run up to the event and admitted that he felt a little apprehensive, there being three months since he had last driven the car.

When it came to the rally, it didn’t take him long to re-acclimatise and had it not been for a puncture in the first of the six forest stages, he may well have been higher than ninth when they started stage two.

Becoming more familiar with the Mitsubishi as each of the event’s 45-competitive miles ticked by, they gathered pace and, after setting the second-fastest overall time through stage five, Jukes and Williams climbed up to fourth position.

With just one stage to go they were able to comfortably maintain their position and returned to Llandovery for the finish delighted to have scored such an encouraging result on the first event of the year.

“I’m very pleased with how things went, the car was great and the Michelin Tyres worked really well,” commented Jukes.

“The Mitsubishi is relatively new to me, and I’m still learning how to get the best out of it, so we were able to go quicker as the day went on. All things considered, I’m very happy with this result.”

He added: “It’s a excellent way to start the season and a great shake-down before the first round of the British Rally Championship in a couple of weeks time, which I’m now really looking forward to.”

For Tom Cave, from Aberdyfi, and James Morgan from Hirwaun in the Spencer Sport team’s R5 Ford Fiesta, their Red Kite Stages story could not have been more different, having retired on stage one when the car left the road and rolled down a bank. Thankfully, both unhurt.

The team will now carefully assess the car to find out what happened and why.

The next event for Spencer Sport will be the opening round of the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship, the Mid Wales Stages, which takes place on 5/6 March.

The team is planning to field three cars in the event, with Tom Cave and James Morgan in the Fiesta R5 (BRC1 Class); Jamie Jukes and Dave Williams in the Mitsubishi Mirage R5 (National Category); and Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss in the Mitsubishi Mirage (National Category).

Amman and District Red Kite Stages Top 10 overall finishers : 1 David Bogie and Kevin Rae, Skoda Fabia R5 00.41.3; 2 Julian Reynolds and Patrick Walsh, Ford Focus WRC 00.42.19; 3 Rhys Yates and Tom Woodbur, Ford Fiesta 00.43.29; 4 Jamie Jukes and Dave Williams, Mitsubishi Mirage 00.44.20; 5 Roland Llewellin and Jack Morton, Mitsubishi EVO X 00.45.19; 6 Stephen Simpson and Mark Glennerster, Ford Fiesta 00.45.33; 7 Mark Gamble and Steve Link, Subaru Impreza 00.46.34; 8 Wug Utting and Dan Nieroda, Subaru Impreza N4 00.46.47; 9 Tomas Davies and Eurig Davies, Ford Fiesta R5 00.47.25; 10 Adam Bustard and Aaron Johnston, Ford Fiesta R2T 00.49.03.