OSIAN Pryce’s challenge for Wales Rally GB glory ended early on day three with a hole in the radiator on his Ford Fiesta R5 - but nothing could dim the Machynlleth star’s enthusiasm on his home round of the World Rally Championship.

Competing in the WRC’s main support series, WRC2, for the first time, Pryce and co-driver Dale Furniss achieved their aim of setting faster times than any other crew else in a Fiesta R5.

After winning this year’s WRC-based Drive DMACK Fiesta Trophy, Pryce had hoped to round his season off with a debut top-six in WRC2. He was on track for that result up until he noticed the rising water temperature aboard his Fiesta.

He even tried to repair the damage to the radiator using chewing gum, but it was impossible, and retirement came at the side of the road.

“Of course it’s disappointing not to finish,” said Pryce at the end of the rally.

“Dale and I worked on the car and did what we could, but we couldn’t stop the water coming out, even though the hole in the radiator was tiny – it must have been a stone or something which damaged a fin in the radiator. There’s no other damage to the front of the car.

“We came here to see what we could do against some genuinely world-class competition in the WRC2 category. All you can really do is measure yourself against the crews in the same cars.

“I have to say, I’m really proud of the speed Dale and I achieved on our first outing in a class in which the other guys have been fighting all through the season.

“We’ve had issues, and without these I think we’d have been the fastest Ford reasonably comfortably.

“Next year, our DDFT win gives us two World Rally Championship prize drives in a Ford Fiesta R5 car and coming out here and pitching ourselves against the best in the world has really given me good confidence.

“If I can say I’m really disappointed about one thing in particular it’s not getting through Dyfi yesterday on the second loop. We had a problem with the power-steering, which was bad enough, but when I got to the end and was told we’d been two seconds per mile faster than [WRC2 winner] Esapekka Lappi in the first split, I was totally gutted.

“I couldn’t help but think about what we might have achieved without that problem. Even today, when we were having a clutch problem which hampered us in the slower corners, I was pleased with the pace we had on those three stages.

“On reflection, I’m delighted with what we have achieved. We have shown we have the speed to fight in WRC2 and that makes me even more determined and excited about next season.”

Meanwhile World Rally champion Sebastien Ogier won the Wales Rally GB for a fourth successive year.

The 32-year old Frenchman finished some 10.2 seconds ahead of second-placed Ott Tanak of Estonia.

Ogier had secured his fourth consecutive WRC title in October, alongside his Volkswagen Motorsport co-driver Julien Ingrassia, and his victory in Wales was his sixth victory of the season.

Belgium’s Thierry Neuville was third at the end of the 22 stages. He is in contention for second in the World Rally Championship.

Kris Meeke and Citroen co-driver Paul Nagle were the best British crew to finish in fifth place overall.

The top three in the WRC2 class were Esapekka Lappi, 11th overall, Pontus Tidemand and Teemu Suninen, all in Skoda Fabia R5s.

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