David Meredith Ulster Rally summary

Meredith struggles on first visit to Ulster

Dolgellau farmer David Meredith struggled with a variety of problems on his first visit to the Ulster Rally in Ireland, contending with everything from an unwell co-driver to a broken driveshaft but was eventually classified in 10th position in class on this, the fourth round of the British Rally Championship.

The rally began with Carlisle based co-driver Jemma Bellingham suffering from a bout of food poisoning which meant that, at times, David was having to drive blind. This coupled with difficult conditions meant that the Revolution Wheels backed Mitsubishi Evo 9 pilot lost a chunk of time on leg 1.

Despite Jemma still not feeling well she insisted they carry on into leg 2 and as the day progressed so both Jemma began to feel better and David gained more confidence in his notes and the grip levels available. However, their weekend went from bad to worse when a front driveshaft failed on the start of the very last stage, costing the pair an enormous amount of time as they were forced to super rally.

I was really looking forward to this rally before we arrived. But now I'm just glad it's over! Poor Jemma was unwell but fair play she showed true grit by insisting we continue, and then for the driveshaft to let go right at the end was really annoying. However, we picked up some points and now prepare for the move back to gravel!

David is hoping to contest a local gravel rally in the next couple of weeks to prepare for the forthcoming International Rally of Yorkshire, the penultimate round of the championship.

-credit: geoff mayes