SLIMBRIDGE-based rally driver Dan Moss and his co-driver Sam Allen were in action again last weekend as the duo made the relatively short trip across the Severn Bridge into Wales for the Red Dragon Stages rally, based in the Neath Valley.

Although this year’s event included rounds of several championships as well as the prestigious MSA British Historic Rally Championship, for Moss it was about using the event to get some valuable stage miles under his belt. Moss said: “I am literally using the event for test reasons before the next round of the BTRDA Championship, the Woodpecker Rally in two weeks time.

“With Sam and myself having not been out in the car since the Nicky Grist Stages, this was a good opportunity to get back to driving.”

The Red Dragon Rally uses five gravel stages totalling 35 miles within the Walters Arena complex located in the forests of Neath Valley.

The local duo started the day in their Mitsubishi Evo seeded 12th in a strong field of 75 both modern and historic cars.

The weather would yet again do Moss no favours as gale force winds and heavy rain swept across the Rheola forest all day.

The crew posted an opening stage time of 9.54 minutes on the five-mile test followed by the fourth fastest time on the second stage putting them in fifth position overall.

The next two stages were run in horrendous conditions as the heavy rain started forming small rivers across the stage roads. Moss and Allen continued to set fourth fastest times albeit with times slightly slower than the previous runs.

Stage five the final test of the day was a massive 12-mile run around the complex and Moss reported conditions were the worst he had ever rallied in.

They lost about 20 seconds mid-stage when they had to reverse back up a bank after a slight overshoot, which was understandable with the amount of standing water that was laying on the course at the time.

Regardless of this, the Mitsubishi crew brought the car back to service to finish in fourth position overall in a time of 48 minutes 46 seconds, a time good enough to also earn second place in the M6 class.

It is a result Moss and Allen were more than happy with when considering the very testing conditions.