Stellantis Motorsport Rally Cup IRE & UK reigning champions Ioan Lloyd and co-driver Sion Williams scored a fabulous second place on Rally Poland (June 13-15) in round three of the FIA Junior European Rally Championship. This huge achievement marks the biggest and most important result in Lloyd’s rallying career to date.
Lloyd, 22-years old from Llandysul in West Wales and his co-driver Williams are contesting the high-profile international series in a Peugeot 208 Rally4 from Tagai Racing Technology (TRT) based in Hungary. The Junior ERC is one of the most competitive and prestigious junior rally championships in the world.
To score a second place in only his third rally at this level and in his rookie season in the Junior ERC was a remarkable result for Lloyd and underlines his outstanding natural ability as he competes against some of the best young drivers from across Europe. It leaves Lloyd and Williams lying second overall in the Junior ERC standings at the mid-point of the season. “It is very early days and we’ve got to keep focussed on putting good results together,” said Lloyd.
However, the build up to the rally was challenging as this was Ioan’s first event since the tragic death of his friend and former co-driver Dai Roberts. Then, further tragedy struck before the rally when young Italian Matteo Doretto tragically lost his life in a testing accident. “I think everybody in Junior ERC competed in Matteo’s memory,” said Ioan.
Once the rally started, Lloyd and Williams were straight onto the pace and ended the opening day in a brilliant third place in Junior ERC but with Irishman Craig Rahill chasing hard.
“The roads are class,” said Lloyd of the Polish gravel stages. “It’s such a sensation of speed. I thought they’d be narrower, but they’re just nice roads all together. The grip was good and the first pass was really enjoyable, but then on the second pass the roads were quite cut up. That was to be expected because it was such a soft surface rally.”
On day two, Lloyd set about fending off Rahill for third as Calle Carlberg and Jaspar Vaher had built an advantage. Then, Rahill went out and Vaher retired, which meant a secure second place for Lloyd and Williams. “To know that we could be on the podium was very, very good. On Sunday we had more of a gap after Rahill went off.
So it was a case of just trying to manage third and then obviously we were delighted to move up to second by the finish. That’s the best result of my career so far.”
After Rally Poland, round three of six in the Junior ERC, Lloyd now lies second in the championship behind Carlberg. “To be second after three rounds is more than I could have ever dreamed of,” said Lloyd.
The next round of the Junior ERC comes up quickly as round four is the Rally di Roma Capitale in Italy on July 4-6. “Rome will be quite a challenge,” says Lloyd. “Heat is the big thing and I think that is always quite challenging. So it’ll be another totally new experience, but it’ll be good to be back on tarmac.”
