BINGLEY'S Sam Bilham grabbed a last-gasp podium place in the Eventsigns Woodpecker Stages Rally, having been a comfortable fourth beforehand.

The 18-year-old, who only entered the Ludlow Racecourse-based event to give himself more seat time before tackling the Wales Rally GB in November, ended up in a thrilling battle for the top three.

Competing in the RF(Rally First)1.4 category, the MSA RSF Young Driver of the Year soon settled into the top four on board a Nissan Micra on the opening loop of stages on Saturday morning.

Teenager Bilham, who, like all of the 180 competitors in the seventh round of the REIS-Ravenol British Trial and Rally Drivers' Association (BTRDA) series, suffered from the slippery conditions in Haye Park, and said: “The stages in Wales were much drier so we had the confidence to push on a little.

“But flat out in fourth gear at around 90mph, the back of the car kicked in the air through a gate and launched us into a ditch, just yards from a large drop into a Welsh valley. How we recovered from that I`ll never know."

However, Next Big Step-backed youngster Bilham, whose co-driver was Graham Wild, recorded some confidence-boosting times through the remainder of the day and emerged from the penultimate stage just four seconds off third place.

A spirited drive across the final Haye Park test helped Bilham turn that deficit into a one-second gain to take a well-deserved third place in the process.

Bilham added: “It’s been great to really have a battle with the RF1.4 contenders and it’s been pretty close all event long.

"We pretty much dominated RF1.0 last year, and sometimes it’s harder to drive to your own pace when you are out front all the time, so today was made so much more enjoyable by the fact we had to push ourselves a little more to get the result we wanted."

Bilham will now concentrate on readying his newly-acquired Fiesta ST ahead of his World Rally Championship debut.

The teenager will switch to an Allfab EMS Ltd Ford Fiesta ST for the remainder of the year in preparation for the biggest test of his life.