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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Pickering/Friday/6pm
On paper Mark Higgins would appear to have a solid lead in the Tesco 99 British Rally Championship. However, when dropped scores are taken into account Mark cannot afford to relax. Second in the points is Wyn Humphreys, Rob Swann is 3rd then its Gwyndaf Evans and Guy Wilks in the pair of ‘works’ Mitsubishis. Gwyndaf is 17 points down on Higgins, Wilks, 18, and it is the latter that Mark sees as the ‘danger man’. Taking into account that Mark will have to drop scores sooner or later, this penultimate round could be critical. Indeed throughout the rally there are many championship battles coming to the boil.
Phillip Morrow is looking good in the Evo Challenge and in the Historic Rally either Dessie Nutt in his Porsche or David Stokes in his Escort could take the British Historic Rally Championship. The Historic cars run first on the road on the rally, and there are some beautiful cars amongst the 80 entries, not least the fabulous Lancia Stratos of VK supremo Steve Perez. Ironically the Historic series is based on points scored in classes and the fate of the title could hinge on how Patrick Watts in his Tiger fares.
Mark Higgins commented before the start. “It almost seems a bit of an anti climax, after the great battle in Cork last weekend in the world rally car, getting back into a GpN car, but anyway we got a test earlier in the week and it went fine. I have no real problem switching from left hand drive to right hand drive. My last gravel rally in this Impreza was on the Pirelli but that shouldn’t be a problem. I have to keep winning because the championship is wide open. This is probably the worst rally for me because it’s so fast, it suits the Mitsubishis. But we’ve got the Impreza working better; it’s very good under braking and in handling. It could be a difficult rally, as its just one day and we won’t get a second chance if we have a problem. However I still like the format of the rally”.
Last year’s winner Ryan Champion, with Craig Thorley co-driving, heads the entry list for the International Rally. Ryan, who has had a rally lay-off since the Pirelli Rally, was expecting to drive a Lancer. That didn’t work out, so he has switched to a GpN Impreza from the Phil Morgan stable, the car that Mark Higgins used last year. Nobody knows the Yorkshire stages better than Ryan, so he will be going all-out for another win.
Guy Wilks is at No.2 and he has been testing his works Lancer earlier this week, reporting that he has found a bit more speed. That’s interesting, because Guy has mostly been going quicker than anybody else this season; he just hasn’t finished a couple of events. Mark Higgins/Rory Kennedy are at No.3 and Gwyndaf Evans/Huw Lewis at 4 in the sister car to Guy Wilks.
David Higgins and his co driver Ieuan Thomas are at No.5 and they are in a GpN Impreza supplied by Autotek, Ken Skidmore’s company, who run the current Production World Rally and Middle East Champion Nasser Al-Attiyah. David has had a slightly frustrating season so far in the Corolla S2000, so this will give the former Group N Champion the opportunity to have a real go.
Phillip Morrow leads the Mitsubishi Evo Challenge points and he starts at No.6. Phillip’s pre-event resolution is to take it canny and just do enough to win the Challenge and leave racing for an outright win to another day. Previous multiple Trackrod winner and British Champion Jonny Milner is at 7. Jonny is driving a Lancer Evo9, and like Ryan Champion is very much on home soil here. David Bogie, fresh from winning the McRae Stages, is at 8 in his Lancer. Sebastian Ling, 2nd in the Evo points, is at 9 and Wyn Humphreys, 2nd in the British Championship, is at 10 in his Impreza.
Outside the top ten are many more exciting drivers in top GpN cars, and then there are many contesting all sorts of classes. Young Darren Gass is at 14 in his Citroen C2 Super 1600 and he could well get into the top ten.
The works Suzukis of James Wozencroft and Ladies Champion Lorna Smith are at 29 and 30 and they should go well, having a superb track record in the R2 class, which also includes the Citroen C2 Cup contenders such as Jason Pritchard, Martin Laverty and a whole lot more including the Japanese driver Kazutomo Kusama. Also running in class R2 is Vesa Mikkola, the son of former world Champion Hannu. There are lots more angles, and then behind the International field is the National Rally and the ‘Stars’, meaning 180 cars are going to tackle the fabulous stages through the Yorkshire forests.
Some changes to the published entry list include: Connor McCloskey & Karl Simmons (Car Nos.12 & 19) non-starting. Rob Swann retains the number 16 but will almost certainly move up the starting order behind Wyn Humphreys. Nik Elsmore has Patrick Walsh co driving. Late entries include Thomas Naughton, Wayne Radford and Daniel Sigaurdson. They will carry the numbers 38, 39 and 40 on their Lancers and will start just outside the top 20.
More news later. BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net |
