SWINDON’S Ian Barnes consolidated his position in the top 10 of the Welsh Historic Rally Championship with another strong performance on the 2012 Severn Valley National Historic Rally last week.

Barnes shrugged off two mechanical problems, which could easily have ended his rally, to complete his sixth consecutive race and secure points in both the Welsh and British Historic Rally Championships.

The driver was delighted with the result, saying: “We got off to a really fast start which we maintained throughout the first half of the rally. The surfaces were in really good condition and, although it had been very wet in the days before the rally, they had started to dry and continued to do so all day.

“We lost a little time when we spun too far with the handbrake on a hairpin bend and I had to reverse back but other than that we had an excellent morning”.

It was not all plain sailing for Barnes and co-driver Melanie Holmes, however, as the duo’s car suffered gearbox problems after the first four stages.

Barnes admitted that the issues came as a surprise.

“I couldn’t believe it, we had finished the fourth stage with no sign of any problem, set off back to service feeling good about the day only to find at the first village we came to that we may be out of the rally,” he said.

“I struggled for nearly 20 miles back to Builth with only third and fourth gears but we made it to service and were able to change the gearbox. Major Motorsport kept us in the rally by replacing the gearbox in under 50 minutes.”

Following two short runs through the spectator stage of the rally, Barnes headed back into the forests for the final four stages.

However, by the end of stage seven, Barnes’ car was down to only three cylinders with a suspected exhaust valve problem which meant nursing the car through the final two stages.

“It became a matter of staying in the rally,” said Barnes. “We decided to carry on and try to finish the rally and, apart from slow starts, we were able to maintain a reasonable pace on the last two stages.

“It did cost us the chance of an even better finish. We lost about a minute on the cars immediately ahead of us.”

Barnes and Holmes finished seventh of the 12 drivers registered for the Welsh Championship, claiming 25 points in the process.

The pair finished 29th overall but eighth in class, while the race was won by Nick Elliott who finished just half a second ahead of Julian Reynolds.

To keep up to date with the progress of Abbey Meads-based Barnes and the Major Motorsport team go to www.majormotorsport.co.uk.