Lampeter’s Meirion Evans and fellow Castrol MEM Rally Team driver William Creighton and go into the Voly Grampian Forest Rally (August 8/9) tied for the lead of the Probite British Rally Championship – with everything to play for on round four of the series.

The Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 team-mates are on 43 points apiece and, unlike all but one of their seven nearest rivals, they are yet to play their bonus points scoring Joker.

Meirion said: “I’m looking forward to the Grampian as it’s a rally I did last year. Although this year’s route is around 80 per cent reversed, some knowledge of the stages and the general lie of the land will help. Last year everyone else seemed to have a bit more experience up there, so this time it’s more of a level playing field.

“If you told me at the start of the year that we’d be going into the fourth round level for the lead of the British Rally Championship I probably wouldn’t have believed you – especially after the way the season started. Things have taken an upturn lately. Our speed on asphalt is good and the Nicky Grist Stages showed that we have translated some of that performance over to gravel. I still feel we have some way to go on gravel, but it’s a big improvement from late last year and the beginning of this year. I feel more comfortable with every mile on gravel and now returning to a rally I’ve done before will help.

“It's not the longest event, so on the Grampian we have to try and be clever, avoid any drama and have a clean run. Punctures were a factor there last year, so if we can avoid that and get a solid haul of points, we’ll put ourselves in a good position from where we can push on for the rest of the season.”