BINGLEY rally driver Sam Bilham will head to Saturday’s Nicky Grist Stages Rally in Wales with some extra power after a new engine was fitted to his Nissan Micra.

Having only contested the Somerset Stages so far this year, Bilham will rejoin the REIS-Ravenol BTRDA Series at the sixth-round stage..

Having contested the RallyFirst 1.0 litre series in 2014, Bilham, along with regular co-driver Graham Wild, will look to progress into the 1400cc category this year.

He set about searching for the required funds to step up to the challenge that the championship offered.

But a budget deficit early in the season meant the only outing would come on the third round in the south-west.

The youngster was encouraged by a fourth-place finish in the hotly-contested Vital Equipment RF1.4 category in his first event of the year and will now return to the championship with renewed confidence and extra horsepower.

“It’s been a huge shame that I haven’t been out on more rounds this year but we simply could not commit to the championship without the required funds to do all the rounds” said Bilham.

“That’s actually been quite beneficial as we have been able to make some changes to the car and fit a new engine, which sees an increase to 1368cc. It may not seem much but it makes the car more driveable and hopefully gives us a better chance in the RF1.4 class”.

The Nicky Grist Stages Rally takes place on Saturday and provides more than 44 competitive stage miles in the forests around the Epynt Military Ranges.

The event is based the Builth Wells Showground which hosts the start, finish and mid-point service areas.