DORSET-based Excite rally raid team finished on the class podium at the first running of the Welsh Borders Hill Rally in Welshpool.

For this event, Dewlish resident and team principal John Hardy dusted off his crash helmet and rekindled his old partnership with former co-driver Paul Brimblecombe.

It has been 18 years since the pair competed together in stage rallying.

Hardy and Brimblecombe last competed together for more than 12 years in the South West and National Rally Championships.

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This was the pair’s first hill rally. Normally the team run an all-female crew in this car but this event was to celebrate Hardy's 50th birthday.

The event ran over three days with a mixture of farm tracks, forestry roads, closed public highway and some very technical off-road sections included in each special stage.

Each stage was linked by non competitive road sections through the beautiful Welsh countryside, across 70 competitive miles and 200 miles of liaisons.

Misfortune struck on day one as the pair made a timing error, picking up a one-minute time penalty which dropped them from second in class to third, with a 46-second deficit.

On day two, the crew managed to get to ten seconds from second despite having hit a tree on one stage, dropping another 20 seconds.

With four stages remaining on the final day, the crew were comfortable they could claim second in class but unfortunately their Mitsubishi Pajero was suffering with some transmission problems and Hardy and Brimblecombe finished third in class, 11 seconds off second and 34th overall out of 70 cars.

Lending his reaction to third place, Hardy said: "It was a fantastic event and amazing to compete alongside Paul again after all these years.

"I absolutely loved driving the international-spec T2 Mitsubishi. We ran the same four Maxxis tyres from start to finish with no punctures which is truly awesome, I very much hope we can return and have another go next year.”

The result is made all the more impressive given Hardy has not competed as a driver since 2012, when he contested the Silkway Rally Raid in Russia within the truck class.

Last year, Excite contested the British Cross Country Championship and ended the year as class two production champions.

Excite were sponsored by Carbon Positive Motorsport and for the whole event the team have offset their carbon footprint by planting trees.

Excite were also sponsored by Maxxis Tyres, Duckhams Oils, Tesouro Timepices and Hardy's partner’s company Equine & Rural Planning, also based in Dewlish.

The team’s next event will be a small competition safari at Bovington Camp on Sunday, June 26.

Again the car will be crewed by Hardy and Brimblecombe but for the remainder of the season Hardy will return to his normal role as team principal in running the all-female-crewed car.