Barry Clark put in a fantastic effort on the Jordan Rally last weekend, finishing twelfth and ninth of the manufacturer entries - just one place off scoring a point for the Munchi's Ford WRT.
The 25-year-old had been ready to travel to the Middle East as a technician on
Federico Villagra's car until he received a last-minute call-up to replace
Luis Perez Companc, who had to return home for business reasons.
This meant a change of role from Villagra's rear left technician to his team-mate on the stages.
In the end it turned out to be the perfect test session for Clark - who will tackle three further WRC rounds later this year in Turkey, Corsica and Britain as a part of his prize for winning last year's Fiesta SportingTrophy International series.
Finishing the rally without mishap was in itself a good job, but the fact he had missed the reece and had to use the pace-notes made by Villagra, which were translated into English by stand-in co-driver, Jose Diaz, made his performance all the more notable.
"I still can't believe it yet. To get this opportunity at the last minute was amazing and to be honest it still hasn't sunk in fully," Barry reflected. "I had a difficult job to do here and was under strict instructions to finish, and we very nearly finished inside the top-ten and just missed out on manufacturer points; that would have really been the icing on the cake.
"I found the stages quite demanding and not having any pacenotes made it even harder. My continued fitness training meant that I was well prepared for this event even with the last minute notice I was given, and now I've got a lot of confidence for my next rally with the team in Turkey."
M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson meanwhile branded Clark's performance 'superb', adding that he was impressed with the Scot, who gradually set better and better stage times, culminating with an eleventh best effort in the final stage.
"This has been a huge task that I dropped on Barry at the last minute and he has done a superb job to finish the event and bring the car back in one piece," added Wilson Sr.
