The Tempest Rally organised by Sutton and Cheam and Farnborough District Motor clubs has always been a favourite event for John Lloyd and Andrew Barnes but this years rally will be especially remembered by Andrew Barnes. On Saturday he scored his best result on a British Championship rally finishing second overall and beating his team mate John Lloyd by 30 seconds. This year the rival drivers have been within seconds of each other on stages but this weekend Barnes came out the victor, taking over 18 seconds out of Lloyd on the final 6 mile stage which was held in darkness. Barnes did say that it was just as well it was dark , if he had seen where he was going he may have slowed down.

Andrew Barnes had a last stage scare, "there was terrible knocking and I feared that a diff was about to go, thankfully it held out and we have claimed second. When I looked at the entry list this morning I would have settled for third so we are delighted. This has been a fantastic day for Guy Simmons and I, we really enjoyed the stages. This is my best result on a British Championship Rally and it is great to have achieved this on an event that we have sponsored.''

John Lloyd, a great Tempest regular and sponsor set some impressive times and declared himself "very pleased" with third overall. This has been a great rally but I did not expect to be beaten by my team-mate Andrew Barnes . He has driven well today and I am still trying to work out how he took 18 seconds of me on the final stage of the rally."

Rally winner Will Nicholls has lost count of the number of times he has won the event! He's not sure if its four or five but he's certainly no stranger to the Tempest Stages. After a tight tussle with Marcus Dodd during the morning the pressure was off when the Hyundai failed. "We were having a great battle but once Marcus dropped out it was a case of bringing the car home."

The team finished the season in winning form and are now planning for 2010. The JLT Rally South of England Tempest Rally was enjoyed by all competitors and a big thank you to Barry Guess and his organising team for making this years rally such a success. They have already started planning next year's event which JLT Rally are pleased to announce that they will sponsor again in 2010.

Results

1	Will Nicholls/Nick Broom	Subaru Impreza	00:41:10
2	Andrew Barnes/Guy Simmons	Ford Focus WRC	00:43:30
3	John Lloyd/Adrian Cavenagh	Ford Focus WRC	00:44:00
4	Rob Swann/Darren Garrod	Subaru Impreza N14	00:44:22