IOAN Lloyd was one of the big winners on Rali Ceredigion over the weekend (August 30-September 1) when he took maximum points in the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup and finished top of the Junior British Rally Championship contenders.

Rising Welsh rally star Lloyd, 21-years old, from Llandysul and co-driver Sion Williams turned in a superb performance on their home rally in the Peugeot 208 Rally4 to keep their Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup bid firmly on track.

The Aberystwyth-based rally was the first major international rally in the UK for five years and Ioan lined up against some of the best young drivers in the UK, Ireland and Europe. Massive crowds packed the route and extensive live TV coverage helped ensure that there was a huge buzz around the two and a half day rally.

Ioan was given the considerable accolade of being a wild card entry into the Junior European Rally Championship element of the event, which meant that he ran near the head of the field and benefited from the extensive live coverage for the European Rally Championship broadcast on Rally.TV

Right from the start on the two spectacular special stages on the sea front at Aberystwyth, Ioan was in stunning form and he quickly took control in the Stellantis Cup, which is his prime aim for the season.

Over long and tough special stages through Saturday, Ioan and Sion were faultless as others hit problems or crashed out. By the end of Saturday, they led their class by well over a minute and took maximum JBRC points in the first part of the double-header round of the championship.

After dry and bright conditions on Saturday, Sunday quickly turned wet and slippery and two of the leading BRC contenders, Chris Ingram and Keith Cronin, both crashed out on the day’s opening stage. The resulting delays meant that Ioan didn’t get to tackle the opening two stages before returning to the service area in Aberystwyth.

The second two stages ran as planned in tricky conditions and Ioan opted for a measured approach to ensure the maximum Stellantis points he was chasing. With an assured performance, he achieved his ambition by winning the RC4 class but just missed out on a second maximum set of JBRC points.

Lloyd said: “We’ve had a great couple of days. It's been an incredible debut in the ERC. The conditions on Sunday were very tricky so I was just trying to get through with no mistakes. We just had a stall on the last junction on the last stage and it wouldn't restart for ages. That meant that fourth ERC slipped away and we finished fifth in ERC4, which we were still happy with as it was a solid result on our ERC debut.

“It was good to have the win in Saturday’s first part of the Junior BRC but we were just trying to focus on the Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup. The car has been spot on all weekend.

“A big thanks go to all my sponsors and supporters, especially to ARE Refrigeration and Electrical as they've been our main sponsor for the weekend. They’ve been brilliant as well as Aberystwyth Park Lodge hotel and Abba Tree Specialist. It’s a great result for them and without them it wouldn't be possible.