Sebastian Ling carried on where he left off recently with another calculated and stunning drive in the 37th running of the recent Rallye Du Bethunois, in Northern France

Sebastian and Aled Rees, his long-time co-driver, were seeded at number 15 for the event and was the first of the R4 runners following 14 of the latest more sophisticated and powerful World Rally Car Machinery.

Sebastian said: "I was feeling confident at the beginning of the rally, as we had spent a couple of days in the Bethunoi region, writing pace notes for the event, and I was happy that the stages were to our liking!"

The rally this year required a totally different approach to previous visits to France, as the French championship drivers were now aware of the speed of the Welsh duo and also the threat they posed to their French Championship R4 category, So the plan was to attack from the first of the fourteen stages and try to build up a healthy lead going in to the overnight rest halt.

It was only the third rally for the West Wales crew in their new Pro-Dent backed, SW built Mitsubishi Evo X R4 car and again it proved to be 100% reliable with the only work needed was routine checks on every service stop, and Sebastian praised the Kumho tyres that had been supplied to him for the event.

The pace of the lads was so impressive that they were easily trading times with a lot of the World Rally Car drivers for most of the rally, and also beating them on quite a few stages.

"We settled in quite quickly to the stages on the first day," said Sebastian, "but it was the second day that we were able to stamp our authority in R4, as they suited my driving style and the characteristics of the car much more. We found ourselves leading our class overnight by over a minute, and the plan from there on was to establish our lead without putting too much pressure on the car."

The Welsh pair finished the rally by winning the R4 category by a massive margin of two minutes 18 seconds and also taking fifth overall in the rally being surrounded by WRC machinery.

Aled Rees said: "I believe the secret to our success this year was a thorough recognisance of the stages a couple of days before the rally, and also our consistent, fast pace during the rally. We entered this Rallye Du Bethunois hoping to be competitive in the R4category as we were up against some very fast local drivers, but to come away with this result is fantastic, and all credit to Sebastian, the way he drove the rally was brilliant, I enjoyed every minute sitting next to him, it was very thrilling."

Motivated by their recent success, the pair are now planning to compete in the last round of the International Irish Tarmac Championship, the Cork 20 rally, in October.