A third place finish for local co-driver Marshall Clarke in last weekend’s Rally France has set up a ‘winner takes all’ battle with French driver Sebastien Chardonnet as they duel for a prize drive in next year’s World Rally Championship worth half a million pounds.

Competing alongside driver Keith Cronin, the pair now know victory on their home round of the championship, Wales Rally GB, will be rewarded with a dream drive in a Citroen R5 for six rounds of next season’s WRC2 championship.

Keith and Marshall went into the French round of the series in the Alsace region of the country with a chance of winning the WRC3 title as well as the Citroen Top Driver award, but they knew they would be up against it with rivals Chardonnet and Gilbert both competing on home turf. Cronin and Clarke have proved their pace with a series of fastest stage times throughout the duration of the championship, but they have encountered difficulties throughout and their pace has not always been rewarded with the finishes they deserved, and early in this event they once again hit problems.

“On the first stage we got blocked by another car and lost eight seconds which wasn’t a great start,” said Marshall. “Then it started to rain overnight and with the nature of the roads through the vineyards they become very slippery even with the slightest amount of rain. On the second stage out we landed over a jump on a corner and we had no rear end grip and we spun up the road and knocked a wall down. We were very, very lucky we got going again. We got away with it, and about 10k later in the stage we did the same again! We lost 44 seconds which left us out of the race and it was a case of letting the two boys in front try to race each other. We thought one of them might slip up so we were happy to stay close to them and just remind them we were still there.” Torrential rain on Friday night left the tarmac stages in a treacherous condition, and with Cronin and Clarke suffering from understeer on the day’s more mountainous stages they were struggling to close the gap on the top two. After the first service they decided to take a gamble on tyre selection and put on slicks in the hope the roads would dry in the afternoon, but it did not pay off and although the pair didn’t lose any ground, they were still unable to bridge the gap. Sunday’s conditions were equally difficult and they took the decision to hold onto third place and reach the finish unscathed. Chardonnet’s second place secured him the WRC3 title, but the Citroen Top Driver prize is still up for grabs and Marshall is hopeful the final round in Wales will suit them.

“GB is going to be slightly more favourable to us because it is a new rally in a different location in North Wales,” said Marshall. “We went to those rallies this year having never been there before. We were writing notes for the first time, while the guy we are fighting with did them all last year. We have been starting from scratch every rally and this time he will have to do that as well.” Wales Rally GB takes place from 14th – 17th November.