An ignition coil failure wrecked Ashford driver Bill Richards’ hopes of a best-ever finish in the Monte Carlo Historic Rally.

The 65-year-old and his team, including navigator Alan Pettit, were in jubilant mood after an excellent opening day which saw them lying 17th overall and leading the 1300cc class, but disaster struck on day two.

Richards, competing in his sixth rally, said: “It is one of the most popular classes in the race featuring the world’s best cars, and everyone was on a high.

“The engine then started to misfire, and the rules state you have between four and five minutes to put it right.

“Putting the spare coil on took us six minutes, and although we made the end of the stage, we were heavily penalised losing 20,000 points, meaning we were placed way down the field."

Richards and Pettit emerged unscathed from the 36,000k long rally, making up 50 places to finish around 150th, but others weren’t so lucky.

He said: “One German team driving a Porsche skidded off, and collided side on with a massive fir tree, which saved them. They were very lucky.”

Richards teamed up with semi-professional navigator Pettit and said: “We gelled together very well and he was very complimentary, but the one thing I don’t do enough of is driving in the snow.”

Veteran Richards is now preparing for the track season in his Mini Clubman, ahead of the start of the 2015 Quaife/Motorsport News series which starts at Brands Hatch in April.