Tom Williams is working hard to return to rallying after his high-speed crash at this year’s Olympus Rally.
The British driver led most of the 100 Acre Wood Rally before a late puncture relegated him to third, and was poised to finish second at the Olympus Rally behind Jari-Matti Latvala – a result that would have moved him into the lead of the American Rally Association National Championship.
However a small misjudgement from Williams caused a big crash into the trees that wrecked both his Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 and his title ambitions.
“It was a really minor mistake in the grand scheme of a tough event, but in probably the fastest section of the rally,” Williams told DirtFish. “I was told there was a virtual chicane there last year, so it was very fast. And unfortunately, it looked like an aeroplane crash after the accident.
“We barrel rolled six, seven, eight times and knocked over six, seven trees in the process of this. Fair play to Škoda and everyone designing a car like this, because Ross [Whittock, co-driver] and I didn’t have a scratch.
“Obviously it wasn’t part of the plan. We would have been leading the championship but in rallying you’ve got to get to the finish, so sadly that put a massive dent in our championship.”
Appearing on SPIN, The Rally Pod to discuss last weekend’s Rally Estonia in the World Rally Championship as well as his own plans, Williams revealed he wanted to return for the next ARA round: Southern Ohio Forest Rally.
“We tried absolutely everything to get back,” he said. “We were determined as soon as that happened – Ross me, my team management – we were working out everything to get a car for the next round. So we were like inches away from getting back on Ohio.
“It would have been incredible if I could have got there because I’d have been straight back into the championship battle, particularly as Travis [Pastrana] couldn’t make it, but it was just too much for our budget.”
Instead, Williams’ first step back into a rally car was the Goodwood Festival of Speed, where he drove a Volkswagen Polo GTI R5 for the first time and won the event’s competitive shootout.
“I think if you watch the film Talladega Nights, when he has his accident and he gets back in the car, people were lapping him,” Williams smiled. “So there was a slight concern of being back in the car after an accident like that.
“But I really enjoyed it. It was just nice to compete and push myself. Of course it would be nice to do a rally where you can stretch your legs a bit more and do some faster stuff, but it was good to be back in the car.”
Williams is hoping to return for one-off events in the second half of 2026
The championship is no longer feasible for Williams, but he is looking to get back out to America – and potentially also the UK – later this year for one-off events.
“This year hasn’t gone the way it needed to needed to go,” Williams admitted, “but we were happy with our pace and happy with our progression from the small amount of events we did do.
“So if we can just focus on ourselves and get independent results, deliver what we need to do, that’ll give us the confidence to really hopefully pull something together [for the future].
“I would say that’s our plan and and it’ll be nice for me to go to a couple of WRC events, maybe do the recce, go and see some teams out there and be in touch with the WRC again.”
