Bingley teenager Sam Bilham earned a third successive podium finish as he contested the latest round of the BTRDA Gravel Rally Championship in Wales.

Bilham tackled over 43 competitive stage miles on the Plains Rally in his Nissan Micra to take solid second in the Rally First one-litre class.

This extended the 17-year-old’s overall lead in the category and closed the gap in his pursuit of the junior driver award for competitors aged under 23.

Bilham acknowledged the efforts of experienced co-driver Graham Wild to guide him successfully through the Welshpool-based event.

He said: “It was always going to be hard to know how to tackle this event – after all, it’s only my third-ever loose surface rally.

“But we kept the concentration levels up in the car and I was really pleased with how my stage times developed throughout the event and I know there is more to come from both the car and my ability.”

Bilham next heads to the Rainworth Skoda Forest Rally for the fifth round on June 7, which takes crews into the Sherwood Forest complex.