THE rallying community flocked to Wales last week for the concluding round of the World Rally Championship at the Wales Rally GB.

And for Slimbridge based rally man Dan Moss and Berkeley co driver Sam Allen this was a great chance to compare times over the same stages as world rally champion Sebastien Ogier. After giving the Hurst Haylage sponsored Subaru a quick spanner check in service on Thursday night they were ready to take on the three day national event that runs alongside the final round in the WRC calendar.

The first competitive day saw the crews take to stages around the Hafren forest areas with a repeat run over the same stages in the afternoon. Moss reported a tough day to start his event in which the car seemingly lacked power.

They finished the day in 32nd position overall but once back in service park in Deeside-Flintside the full extent of the power problem became apparent, a cracked cylinder head. The service crew worked tirelessly through the night to get the car ready for the 8:30 start on Saturday, which included a dash to Preston for spares.

Saturday saw a whole new challenge. Heavy rain throughout the day made tricky stages like Dyfnant and Dyfi even more of a challenge. Moss reported the car cutting out before stage one of the day and then again on the road section.

His dramas didn’t end there. He said: “We had a puncture on stage two. We then had intercom failure before stage three which Sam managed to fix. Stage 4 went ok but the car was lacking power. Stage 5 we then had another flat tyre. We pushed on and got the car back to service”

Despite all the issues they still managed to increase the overall position to 23rd.

Sunday had a mix of forest stages with a quick run on tarmac around the Great Orme in Llandudno. The last stage of the event Brenig saw the Subaru lose power once again as the turbo failed. However they battled on through the stage to bring the car home in 17th position overall. A great result for the team and reward for the efforts overcoming the mechanical issues on Friday evening.

The team are already planning a return in 2016.