BENTHAM rally driver David Wright enjoyed another successful motorsport weekend when he finished seventh overall on the Nicky Grist Stages event in Wales.

After winning the Goodwood Festival of Speed rally shootout at the end of June Wright had high hopes of a good result in the Llandovery-based event, which was a round of the BTRDA rally championship.

The event was split into two loops of four stages, including a lot of the roads used on Britain’s World Rally Championship round. Wright made a good start and, despite not having much experience of using his Kumho Tyres and Grove Hill Garage-supported Ford Focus WRC, he was consistently setting top 10 times to lie in seventh place after stage four.

Wright pushed hard on the second loop of stages to try and get a top five position but an overshoot and stall on the Route 60 stage cost him some time and he remained in 7th.

“I really enjoyed the event,” said Wright. “There were some amazing stages and they were in a brilliant condition. After our issues with the Focus earlier in the year it was good to be able to use it in anger with it working at 100 per cent.

"It took some time to settle into a good rhythm and we made a few changes with the diff settings but we were still managing to set some top five times and mix it with the BTRDA championship regulars.

“We were pushing for fifth at the finish but the Route 60 overshoot ended those hopes. I’m more than happy with seventh though, it’s a good solid finish and we brought the car home with no damage.

"Thanks to Kumho Tyres and Grove Hill Garage for their support and to Giles Philips Motorsport for the car.”