by Geoff Mayes
Jason Pritchard returns to action on this weekend's
Jim Clark International Rally after a frustrating period of forced inactivity caused by a non-rallying related injury, which sidelined the young Citroen pilot.
The British Rally Elite member, who is co-driven by Welshpool resident George Gwynn in the North Road Garage-supported Citroen C2R2, had been hoping to challenge in both the British and the Irish C2R2 Cups. But after a low speed road accident left the motor mechanic with a broken foot six weeks ago, he has been forced into the unnatural role of a frustrated spectator.
Furthermore with the opening round of the British C2R2 cup having already taken place just over a month ago, Pritchard and Gwynn are aware that they need to get their British Championship aspirations back on course this weekend.
"We need a strong result on the Jim Clark Rally. The championship allows dropped scores, so it's not over," noted the Builth Wells based man.
"There are only 7 point scoring opportunities and so we really need a good run here this weekend. Mentally I'm fine, but obviously the last few months have been really frustrating. I've been training hard recently and although it was my accelerator foot that was broken I don't see it hindering our pace in any way."
Pritchard, who turns 20 soon after the Jim Clark International, and 25 year old George are one of the youngest crews competing in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, but the pairing have a wealth of experience of this rally between them.
Indeed Pritchard finished on the class podium here last year and with prior experience of the stages, and a good base set-up for the little Citroen the pair aim to be on the pace from the word go.
