TEENAGE rally driver Tom Delaney ended his 2015 season on a high this weekend with another excellent second place on the North Humberside Stages rally, which was the final round of this year’s Formula 1000 Junior rally championship.

In doing so, the 16-year-old from Droitwich finished the season third in the standings, despite having missed two rallies to concentrate on his school exams, and narrowly missed-out on second overall, by just four points.

The final round took place at the Cadwell Park circuit in Lincolnshire and was a wet and grey affair. As the event unfolded, there was a three-way battle between Delaney, 2015 champion-elect Charlie Barlow and Zak Hughes.

Barlow had a bad first stage and then Delaney was baulked by a slower car, losing 10 seconds in the process.

However, a pep-talk from Delaney’s father, Dominic, who runs preparation company SVP, reaped rewards.

Delaney set the fastest stage time on the first of the two remaining stages run in darkness and on the final timed test was second-fastest by just one second.

By the end of the rally, he had claimed second in the category to Hughes, beating Barlow, the 2015 champion, on the road and securing third overall in the season’s standings.

He said: “I’m really pleased with how the rally turned out. Beating Charlie on the first stage was great but then losing the time stuck behind the slower car was really annoying.

“Dad and I had a good chat and I just drove the last two stages as well as I could and it worked – a fastest and second-fastest time were good for second to beat Charlie.”

Delaney will be returning to the Formula 1000 Junior series in 2016, where this year’s champion will be absent, as he will be too old to compete.

He will also turn 17 during the year, so potentially will be looking to expand his experience into multi-venue rallying, pending passing his driving test.

His father said: “I am really pleased with how Tom, and Joe [Cruttenden, co-driver] went this weekend.

“The first stage showed his pace, where he was faster than the champion on the first stage, which was new for everyone. But then he lost time when he was held up and he got really down about it.”