Team Damage Control rally crew of Paul Alexander and Mike Panes endured mixed fortunes on this weekend's International Rally of Wales, round 2 of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship.

Based in Dolgellau, the combination of 8 classic welsh forest stages run in glorious sunshine and soaring temperatures was sure to provide a stern test for the crews and their machinery. However, after subtle changes to their Prospeed Motorsport Volkswagon Golf Gti, the crew were confident of a good result.

The first 3 special stages passed without drama, with Paul settling in to a pace that would see the crew establish a comfortable 13 second lead in the F2000 class. "I'm a little surprised at the times, as we've used these early stages to test the new tyres and concentrate on the car setup rather than pushing hard and taking risks. However, we're obviously delighted to be at the front".

Stage 4, a re-run of stage 1, was to cost the crew dearly when a tyre deflated with over 5 miles remaining. After driving the remainder of the stage, the crew emerged over 1m30s down on their class rivals, and more worryingly, with an overheated clutch that appeared to have seized. After replacing the rear wheel and pushing the car down the road, the crew finally managed to free the clutch and get the car started again - reaching stage 5 with just seconds to spare.

"I really thought that that was the end of our rally. We'd even tried contacting the team to come and get us when we finally managed to coax the car back to life and get going again. The clutch is obviously still not right, so we'll just have to see if it'll survive this next stage and get the car back to service".

Back at the end-of-day service halt back in Dolgellau, the Prospeed Motorsport technicians were able to work on the clutch and re-fettle the car ready for Sunday's 3 remaining stages. Overnight, the crew held 28th position overall, and 3rd in the F2000 class.

A poor time on stage 6, when the dust from the preceding car caused the Damage Control crew to overshoot a junction and collide with a marshal's parked car, meant that there could be no relaxing over the final two stages if a podium position was to be theirs. However, fastest class time on both stage 7 and stage 8 saw them maintain 3rd in class and move up to 21st overall.

"It's been a tough event - the stages have been quite rough in places, and driving in the dust today has made things really tricky. To miss out on class victory by 1m14s, after losing over 1m30 yesterday, and more time when we hit the car in stage 6 today is disappointing, but we've moved up the championship standings, and have got some valuable experience with the car".

The team's next event will be the Scottish International, held in Dumfries on June 11th/12th.

Team Damage Control is supported by Rainbow International, ISS Damage Control, Polypipe Civils, Bill Gwynne Rallyschool International, Coordsport and Prospeed Motorsport. For more information, visit www.alexrally.com.