Teenage rally driver Tom Cave, from Aberdovey in Wales, has secured a privately-entered and run Proton Satria Neo Super2000 rally car for selected rounds of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The 18 year-old will receive support from Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM), the company which runs the official Proton team and will run alongside, but independent of, the official team, headed by Alister McRae.
The news is the result of twelve months of hard work by Tom’s father and manager of the Tom Cave Racing team, Peter Cave. Peter spotted the clear potential of the Proton S2000 car early on and has been working to secure the purchase of the first ex-works car offered by MEM for Tom to use in 2010.
The current plan is for Tom to contest one or two events in the UK to familiarise himself with the car prior to undertaking a seven-rally program in the IRC, primarily mainland European events, including Ypres, San Remo and Rally of Scotland. These events would be interspersed with tarmac and gravel tests to give the youngster the best chance of demonstrating his ability and pace in the increasingly popular IRC series, which receives extensive television coverage on pan-European sports channel Eurosport.
While many might think that the step from a Group N Ford Fiesta ST to a Super 2000 car could be too great, Peter is confident that it is a step Tom is capable of making. “When Martin Rowe was working with us just over a year ago, he was completely confident that Tom would be capable of driving a four wheel-drive car at a representative pace,” he said. “It has been our objective to get Tom into a four wheel-drive rally car that will form the future of rallying as soon as possible and I am delighted that we have been able to achieve that for this year, with the help and support of Chris Mellors and MEM.”
Tom has already demonstrated a maturity and resilience that belie his years; in 2009, he contested ten rallies across Europe, including events forming part of the British and Latvian national championships, the FIA World Rally Championship and the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. He won his class on three of the final four rallies he contested, including Rally Latvia and Rally of Scotland and dominated his class on Rally of Great Britain but lost time when stuck in a ditch.
He contested his second Rally of Great Britain before his 18th birthday and just days after legally becoming an adult, finished Rally of Scotland, the finale of the 2009 IRC, in eighth place, a points-scoring position, had Ford been registered for the championship.
Tom is understandably excited by the prospect of taking the wheel of the Proton for at least eight events in 2010. “I still can’t quite believe that I’ll be driving an S2000 Proton this year. I know it’s something that the team had been trying to secure for some time but I didn’t think for a moment that it would happen for this year. For the last few months, I have been working on the basis that I would be driving a two wheel-drive car this year, possibly an R2 or R3 car but this is an incredible opportunity.
“Of course, while I’m incredibly excited, I’m also a little apprehensive. I’m not naïve enough to think for a moment that I will be anywhere near the pace of people who have been rallying for almost as long as I have been alive! But cars such as the Proton will form the future of rallying and I can completely understand the concept of getting into one of these cars as soon as possible. It makes complete sense to develop and learn the skills of what I hope will be my trade using the tools of that trade.
“Our car will be run independently, still by Davies Motorsport but from within the MEM service area on events that we are contesting as well as the Proton team. To have that support and to be competing alongside a driver like Alister McRae is an amazing opportunity and one that I will make the very most of.
“I think the objective for the year will be to learn as much as possible; the way the car behaves and how to drive it, the way an official team like MEM works and the relationships between their drivers and the engineers, gain more experience of rallies I haven’t done and of course, competing in a championship. Because of my age, I wasn’t able to enter any championships last year but I am looking forward to competing against the same drivers over several rallies to see how my performance improves as I learn and understand more.”
Many of the finer details are still to be completed but one thing is certain and that is Tom will run his final rally in the Fiesta next week, as he takes the start ramp of the 2010 Rallye Automobile Monte Carlo. The most iconic event in the history of rallying will see Tom’s swansong in the Fiesta that has served him well for the last two years and will be a fitting start to his 2010 season, on the opening round of this year’s IRC.
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