OSIAN Pryce achieved the biggest moment of his career when he secured second place in the Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy class of Rally Poland last weekend - to secure two prize drives in next year’s FIA World Rally Championship.

Victory on the season-opening Rally Portugal had set Pryce and co-driver Dale Furniss up perfectly, and they impressively went on to finish the job in Poland.

“This is what I’ve been working towards for so long, it’s unbelievable, an incredible feeling,” said a delighted Pryce.

“So many people have worked so hard for this moment, and to be honest, it still hasn’t sunk in yet that we’ve done it.”

Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy rookie Jon Armstrong from Northern Ireland took the win, after an enthralling see-saw weekend battle with Welshman Pryce.

Pryce had led the fast and furious rally in the Polish Lake District going into a dramatic final day, but heavy overnight rain brought hugely challenging closing stage conditions for the competitors.

Pryce holds overnight lead

It ultimately led to Welsh ace Pryce surrendering a 43.8-second overnight lead, which allowed 21-year-old Armstrong to pounce and finish on top of the podium, along with co-driver Noel O’Sullivan.

On the opening day, Pryce produced a near-perfect drive to place his Ford Fiesta R2T in a provisional podium position, posting two fastest times on the high-speed roads in the Polish lake district.

Apart from a small mistake on the opening stage of the day, Pryce was a model of consistency, setting top three stage times on the remaining seven gravel tests.

Third at the end of day one, he said: “We’ve had a pretty good day. I was really annoyed with myself on the first stage.

“I slid a little bit wide on a third-gear right-hander, and the car got into the sandier stuff at the side of the road and that just pulled us out a little wider.

“We came to a halt and I had to drive carefully through a bit of a hole, before we could get going again. I would say that it cost us between five and eight seconds, which is a heck of a lot to give away when you’re fighting in identical cars.

“After that, it was okay. I pushed on in a couple of places and we picked up some fastest times, but the key to the first day for us was getting ourselves settled in.”

Pryce then enjoyed a near-perfect second day, winning all-but one of the day’s long gravel stages in his Ford Fiesta R2T.

He and Furniss were out of the blocks brilliantly in the morning, posting fastest time on a stage which ran along Poland’s borders with Russia and Lithuania.

Second quickest on the next test, the pair wouldn’t be headed for the rest of the day, and only missed out on fastest time at the evening’s spectator-pleasing super-special by two-tenths of a second.

“I wasn’t completely happy with how the first day went, so I was out of bed earlier than normal in the morning watching the DVD of our recce again,” said Pryce.

“When I left service, I was feeling upbeat and pretty confident – Wales’ win over Belgium in the football might have helped as well! Fastest time on the first one was a brilliant start to our Saturday.

“I did lose a bit of time on the second stage, the longest of the day. I’d decided to leave a bit too much pressure in the tyres, and I made a bit of a mess of a junction and that cost me a couple of seconds, but after that, everything was perfect.”

The third and final day of action on the roads around Mikolajki didn’t come without its moments as the scorching sunshine gave way to torrential rain, and temperatures half of the 34 degrees, which took its toll on soft, sandy stages.

“Today was undoubtedly one of the toughest days of my career,” said Pryce.

“The roads were absolutely horrendous. We were aquaplaning at 100mph and trying to get the car slowed down, which was almost impossible at times.

“To be honest, it was a bit of a lottery. We had a small problem on the first stage of the day and that cost us the lead and the chance to take a second win. After that, my focus was firmly on the finish.”