It is three months since John Lloyd and Andrew Barnes have been in action in their Ford Focus World Rally Cars and in preparation for last weekends Wyedean Rally they tested the cars on the Friday morning at Walters Arena. Conditions there were very slippery and the roads soon began to cut up. These were to be very similar challenges which faced the crews the following day on the Wyedean Rally which attracted 147 entries to the Chepstow base with stages in the Forest of Dean.

Andrew Barnes had a good run through the first stage at Chepstow Park and was 17th fastest which pleased him and his co-driver Neil Dashfield especially when they discovered that they were four seconds quicker than their team-mate Lloyd. There will now be fierce competition ahead between the two JLT drivers. It was a great disappointment for Barnes when on the road section to the next stage clutch problems developed and that was the end of his rally. Team-mates John Lloyd and Adrian Cavenagh were struggling with the slippery conditions and the pace of fellow competitors, finishing 16th overall out of 102 finishers. The event was won by the Peugeot Cosworth of Andy Burton with local driver Nik Elsmore second in a Group N Mitsubishi Evo.

The JLT Rally team are in action on 22/23rd February in the Bournemouth district. Friends are invited to attend the rally and see John and Andrew in action. The ninety car entry will be led by Marcus Dodd driving a Hyundai WRC. John Lloyd has been seeded at 6 and Andrew Barnes is carrying 29 on his door panels.

The action starts on the evening of Friday 22nd February from 19.00hrs in the heart of Bournemouth itself. The competing cars start in the Lower Gardens, heading for Pier Approach before taking the under-cliff road to Boscombe. The 1.6 mile stage is used twice at 30 second intervals. A great place to watch for action and atmosphere.

On Saturday morning competitors leave the event service area at the Elliotthire Canford Arena for the forests of Dorset. The crews will visit the forest roads in the Wareham and Ringwood areas as well as Somerley Park .