Hereford's Damian Cole, driving the Get Connected Hyundai Accent WRC, extended his lead in the Welsh Rally Championship following a master class performance in treacherous conditions at the weekend's Quinton Stages Rally in Llandovery.
In a thrilling finale, Cole and co-driver Paul Morris finished on equal penalties with the Ford Focus WRC of Hugh Hunter; the rain-interrupted event was decided in Cole's favour due to his faster time on the opening stage of the day.
Cole has now amassed an impressive three wins from the first five Championship rounds, this win was by far the most rewarding.
It is very satisfying to have finished in such conditions, let alone won, explained Cole, who finished second overall, behind Steve Perez.
We knew that if we could post a fast time on the opening stage it would put pressure on our rivals in deteriorating conditions. It proved a winning strategy although it was pretty nerve-racking in those final few stages.
In the penultimate stage the windscreen wipers of the Hyundai stopped and had to be repaired on the roadside losing Cole and Morris valuable time and putting the Hereford-based pairing two seconds down going in to the final stage.
We knew we would need to take at least two seconds out of Hugh on the final stage and we did it, just! continued Cole.
My co-driver must take all the credit, he had a sick bug, looked like death and was throwing up most of the day - fortunately not in the car but as usual his navigating was spot on.
Cole and his Get Connected! rally team now move on to the next round of the Welsh National Forest Rally Championship, the Swansea Bay Stages taking place on July 19. Cole also holds second place overall in the BTRDA Gold Star Rally Championship.
![Damian Cole. Hyundai Accent. Quinton Stages 2008. [Pic credit: Rallypics]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/463419.jpg)
