IOAN Lloyd and Sion Williams scored important points in round five of the ADAC Opel Electric Rally Cup, Rally Sanremo in Italy over the weekend 16-18 October.

Lloyd, 24, from Llandysul, and co-driver Williams from Blaenau Ffestiniog are competing in the all-electric seven-round rally championship in their Vauxhall UK Mokka GSE Rally and now lie second in the overall points and leading juniors.

With a total of 70 competitive miles across two and a half days, this was another important event on one of Europe’s most famous rallies in the season-long contest where crews count all seven results towards their final score.

The rally didn’t start well for the Welsh crew when they picked up a puncture on the opening special stage and dropped more than 20 seconds to their main rivals. However, they battled back into contention to end the rally fourth overall and third in the junior pack.

Lloyd said: “It was a real pleasure to compete on such an iconic rally.

“We made some really positive progress with the car over the weekend but unfortunately missed out on the Mokka GSE podium by just nine-tenths of a second.

“After the puncture on the opening stage put us on the back foot, we fought back well to put ourselves in contention. Ultimately, I didn’t deliver a good enough performance on the Power Stage to secure a place on the podium. It was frustrating to come so close, but there are plenty of positives to take away.

“Sion did a superb job on the notes. It was an incredibly demanding rally and he absolutely nailed it. We scored valuable points for the championship and now our focus turns to the final two rounds of the season. We’ll be back stronger! Next up is the Saarland-Pfalz Rally in Germany at the end of October.”