OSIAN Pryce scored a brilliant debut win in the World Rally Championship-based Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy by finishing Rally of Portugal almost two minutes ahead of his nearest rival.Having run second for much of the three-day rally, the 23-year-old, from Aberangell near Machynlleth, moved into the lead when Portuguese rival Bernardo Sousa crashed on the 19th and final stage.

He won by 1min 45.1s from Max Vatanen, son of 1981 World Champion Ari.

“I’m so happy, it’s incredible,” said Pryce. “It’s not just for me, so many people have worked so hard to put me in the position to fight for the championship this year, and to pay them back with a win first time out in the car is really special.”

Pryce added: “Our morning went very well, and we weren’t taking any risks.

“We had a good margin to Max and the aim was to maintain that and take points for second place and some bonus points for stage wins. When we saw Bernardo’s car on its side, I couldn’t really believe it.

Taking full advantage

“Straight away, Dale said to concentrate, and I must admit, for the next corner or couple of corners, I did have a quick think about things, but then I was back focused on bringing the car home for the win.

“We came close to winning the Junior WRC class on this rally last year, and then in Poland as well, but both times we missed out. To finally do it, to finally win at this level makes up for all that disappointment. It’s an incredible feeling.”

After taking their first win, Pryce is now already focusing on round two at next month’s Rally Poland (30 June to 3 July).

A strong result in the Polish lake district will be enough for him to land two drives in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta R5 next season.

“The way that the DDFT prize is structured, there are two drives on offer to the person with the most points from Portugal and Poland; Poland and Finland and finally Germany and Spain,” said Pryce.

“We’ve got to be completely focused on scoring big points in Poland, if we do that, it would be an even bigger celebration.

“I must admit I’ve absolutely loved this event. Making the switch from Junior WRC to DDFT was absolutely the right move for me this season; the car has been faultless on what’s been a pretty tough rally and the tyres have performed perfectly on some of the rockiest roads I’ve seen. I’ve got to thank everybody at DMACK and M-Sport for such a great weekend.”

Malcolm Wilson, two-time World Rally Championship-winning team principal and managing director of M-Sport – the firm which builds the Ford Fiesta R2Ts used in DD Fiesta Trophy, said he was impressed with what he saw from Pryce.

“To do this on his debut in the Fiesta R2T is really great,” commented Wilson.

“It would have been difficult for him to come here and compete in a car which he’s not so familiar with, but he’s been very sensible and very quick, setting some fastest times on his way to the win.

“I told all of the drivers before the start, the key here was to play themselves in, learn the car and don’t try to do too much too quickly. Osian and Dale Furniss have done that and come out as winners.”