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Dave Weston Jr has won the inaugural Richard Burns Trophy, presented to the first-place finisher in the Production Cup section of Rallye Sunseeker, which finished in Bournemouth on Saturday evening (February 27).

Driving a Group N Subaru Impreza, Weston Jr, a member of the Motor Sports Association’s Team UK driver training initiative, beat fellow rising star Jonathan Greer to the award and a cheque for £1000 following ten gravel stages in the Dorset countryside. In 1992, Burns and co-driver Robert Reid won Group N in second overall on the event at the wheel of a Subaru Legacy. Reid made the presentation to Weston Jr and his navigator Ieuan Thomas.

“It’s fantastic to win something in Richard’s name because he was one of my idols,” said the 19-year-old Weston Jr, who hails from Aberdeen in Scotland. “I remember watching him on television and hoping I could drive a rally car myself one day. It’s a real honour to have won the trophy set up in remembrance of his performances on the stages.”
 
Weston Jr finished eighth overall on the event, the opening round of the MSA Gravel Rally Championship. He is now planning a programme of British and world championship rallies this season as well as selected appearances in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge with the Welsh Ramsport team.

In addition to the presentation of the Richard Burns Trophy, the 2001 world rally champion was also remembered by a parade of seven of his old cars at Somerley Park on Saturday afternoon. Crewed by several people closely associated with Burns, including his father Alex, former partner Zoe Scott, ex-navigator Gordon Jarvis and David Lapworth, the one-time technical director of the Subaru World Rally Team, the sight of the cars triggered a hearty applause from the several hundred spectators who lined the route.

Members of the Richard Burns Foundation, a charity set up in honour of England’s only world rally champion, who died of a brain tumour in November 2005 aged 34, carried out bucket collections at Somerley Park, where a Concours d’Elegance, featuring examples of the RB5 and RB320 Subaru Impreza road cars, also took place.

Organisers also named a 6.69-mile stage through Wareham Forest in memory of Burns. It was won by Marcus Dodd, in a Hyundai Accent, on his way to a seventh outright victory on the rally.

Rick Smith, the Rallye Sunseeker event director, said: “Rallye Sunseeker was proud and honoured to have been associated with the Richard Burns Foundation and very grateful for the support shown by the Foundation in bringing along the iconic collection of Richard’s rally cars and the presentation of the Richard Burns Trophy to the winner of the Production Cup. By winning the trophy, Dave Weston Jr has shown the potential to follow in Richard’s footsteps.”