Roger Albert Clark Rally has twist in its tail on the final day of competition

The Roger Albert Clark Rally was billed as a return to the gruelling days of the sport’s past, with stages held across Britain, night running, and the cruel November weather.

Few could have predicted just how cruel it would be, however, as storm Arwen blew in, dumping snow and fallen trees across the already muddy stages, and leaving icy weather in its wake.

The conditions had already brought their fair share of twists and drama, so the final day of competition was never likely to be a smooth ride to the finish. And so it proved.

Paul Barrett and Gordon Noble began the day looking unbeatable in their Ford Escort, almost two minutes clear of their second-placed Osian Pryce and Noel O’Sullivan rivals, also in an Escort.

With five special stages to go and the shortest stage miles of the event, surely they couldn’t be assailed? Plenty of fans had turned out to discover the answer, on a cold but clear morning in southwest Wales, and they wouldn’t have to wait long for fate to show her hand.

Walters Arena would provide the backdrop for not one, but two dramatic twists, the stage that was once part of the bigger Rheola WRC stage and with the cars running in the tyre tracks of those heroes that had gone before the wheels quite literally fell off of Pryce’s chance of victory, as he took the corner off his Escort when the short stage had barely begun.

With Pryce out, victory appeared Barrett’s for the taking: he and co-driver Noble just had to stay out of trouble. But the tracks that weave a path through the wind farm at Walters Arena are fast, perhaps some of the fastest on the event, and at the end of the stage a series of straights are followed by extremely rapid corners on the loose gravel. It would be here, just a few minutes after the departure of Pryce, that Barrett would get his line ever so slightly wrong, sending his own Escort barrel-rolling into the undergrowth and seeing defeat snatched from the jaws of victory within touching distance of the stage finish.

“After the trials and tribulations, including a big off, we are relieved and delighted to complete the adventure that is the Roger Albert Clark and stagger across the finish line,” said driver Jardine. “We had a mission to deliver the carbon offset message to the rally community and get to the finish line in the process, showing what is possible for now and for the future of the stunning forests of the UK and the world.”