OSIAN Pryce suffered more misfortune as a mechanical failure ended his efforts to win the RAC Roger Albert Clarke Rally.

Beginning on Thursday, 25 November and ending on Monday, the RAC Rally was the longest event both in terms of duration and stage mileage to be held in the UK for several years.

Well placed to take the win on the final day of the epic five-day rally, a rear stub axle broke on the Machynlleth driver’s RallyXtreme Ford Escort Mk2, sending him spinning into a bank, and ending his rally when he should’ve inherited the lead.

Following his misfortune Osian Pryce said: “Just dwelling on the last few days. I am gutted.

“As you can imagine the RAC is a big effort, from my sponsors who backed me last minute to make sure I started the event, Grant and everyone at RallyXtreme who got the car ready pre event and had built a phenomenal car that was a honour to drive.

“But I’d like to introduce you to three massive key people, one of which has the unfortunate task of calling the notes for me and keeping me on the road and the other two you won’t know.

“Meet Rhodri and Will, two of my best mates, for over 25 years.

“Both of which have never serviced for me on an event before and were my RAC service crew.

“Both jumped at the chance to help me on the RAC and I’m truly grateful for that.

“In school, all our school reports always said ‘could have done better’ but this was definitely not the case this weekend.

“I’m gutted for these lads as I’m gutted for myself.

“They, along with Noel (co-driver), put their heart and soul into this weekend, and were true professionals on their first attempt on this event.

“Thanks very much boys, it was a pleasure to have you along for the adventure. I will never forget it.

“Noel, thanks once again. Shame for this year, our luck will change, and I’m looking forward to having you onboard for 2022.”

The RAC Rally started just five days after Osian missed out on the British Rally Championship drivers’ title by just five points.

Despite being the only driver to finish on the BRC podium on all six events leading up to the final round, including two maximum points finishes, the five scores to count from seven rallies rule meant that Osian either needed to win the final Ulster Rally or for rival Matt Edwards not to win.

The two Melvyn Evans Motorsport stablemates were in a class of their own and in an incredible battle for victory, over two minutes ahead of the rest of the field.

On the third and final loop of three stages Osian was second, 9.1 seconds behind Matt, heading into the penultimate stage.

A repeat performance through Bronte Homeland (SS8) would surely have given Osian the lead going into the final stage, but unfortunately he left the road at a tight right-hand corner mid-way through the stage, where Cavehill Lane meets Ballynafern Road.

With the Polo GTI R5 stuck in a muddy field, it was the end of Osian’s BRC title aspirations, yet his first BRC season since 2017 had netted him and co-driver Noel O’Sullivan the runners-up position.

This year’s five-day and 351 stage mile RAC Rally was the longest special stage rally in Great Britain for 30 years (since the 1991 Lombard RAC Rally in fact).

Ryan Champion became the first non-Ford Escort driver to win the event by winning 2021 with a Porsche 911.

Since the historic rally’s inception in 2004, no car other than a Ford Escort Mk1 or Mk2 has topped the podium, but after several of their Escort rivals fell by the wayside this year, Champion and co-driver Craig Thorley made history, beating Seb Perez/Gary McElhinney and Adrien Hetherington/Ronan O’Neill who completed the podium.

This year’s Roger Albert Clark Rally started in Carlisle and went straight into Kielder forest for the opening loop of stages.

The event stayed in Kielder for Friday (26 November) with long and demanding stages like Pundershaw and Bewshaugh.

The event was due to head into Scotland on Saturday for more classic tests such as Ae, Twiglees and Craik but they were cancelled due to Storm Arwen.

The route then headed to Wales for the final two days of competition.

Sunday’s stages included Dyfnant and Dyfi forests with the Gartheiniog stage axed, while the final day on Monday saw the crews tackled Epynt, Halfway, Crychan and Gwibedog before the event finished in Carmarthen town centre.