RALLY NEWS NO.1      Rally HQ Carlisle..Saturday 08.00

This Pirelli Rally, 2nd round of the Mobil 1 British Rally Championship, enjoys the longest stages in the series, through Kielder, providing a real tough challenge for the drivers. Current Champion Tapio Laukkanen commented as his VW Golf was put through scrutineering at CG Fords here in Carlisle last night, ""All the stages are in good shape, hard surface. They will be super fast,good grip but the usual big stones at the side. Our engine is quite strong, so it should be OK for us" The Finnish driver, who has now moved from his Oxfordshire base to Andorra, continued, "The first gravel stage we will try and do good time, not flat out, but good speed. We have done some time testing this week, and made some small changes to the suspension, it all makes a difference." Tapio is joined in the Volkswagen camp this time by young Finnish driver Jani Pirttinen. This is his first rally here, and he is in an older model Golf, but he will still be a competitive package.

One fly in Tapio's ointment is that he has to run 4th on the road this morning, behind Andrew Pinker. The starting order, detailed below, is determined by the stewards of the rally using the Mobil 1 Championship guidelines. One effect of running 4th on the road is that some of the loose gravel will be swept away, the downside however is catching the dust from Andrew Pinker in front.

The Vauxhalls of Mark Higgins and Neil Wearden, 1st and 2nd on the opening round in Wales, will lead the rally away from its new start venue right here in the heart of historic Carlisle. Mark, current Championship leader, has been doing some testing with his Astra, although told us that the tests were nearly all in wet conditions, so its fingers crossed that the 'set-up' is OK for what looks like being a dry weekend. His team mate Wearden is determined to give this rally his best shot in his quest for maximum points. As well as the F2 cars being able to score overall points, some of the GpN cars are also eligible. These include Jonny Milner, Marko Ipatti and Neil Simpson. The battle of the GpN machinery should be a highlight of the event, as will the contest for Super 1600 points between the Peugeots, the Proton, McShea's Saxo and Mats Andersson's Proton. Justin Dale has a new engine in his Peugeot 106 Super GTi, while David Higgins' example has been rebuilt since its Welsh accident, both cars looking as immaculate as ever. Jouso Pykalisto spearhead's Ford's interests in the Puma.

60 cars, including 8 Dutch Micras are scheduled to start this Pirelli International this morning, with the Pirelli Carlisle City Challenge contenders due to join the fray on stage 4 at the airport. Non starters from the original published list include Per Johansson (18), Johan Kressner(24), Christer Steen (29), Ben Briant (36) and Garry Furneaux (54). Starting order of the lead cars, all keeping their designated numbers - Mark Higgins, Neil Wearden, Andrew Pinker, Tapio Laukkanen, Jarmo Kytolehto, Jani Pirttinen, Marko Ipatti, Jonny Milner, David Higgins, Jouso Pykalisto, Mats Andersson and Justin Dale. Then its Neil Simpson in the Pirelli Lancer at 14, with the following cars in sequence. More news from Carlisle Airport..BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON