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| Bulldog International Rally of North Wales |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Pre Start - Friday @ 18:13:14 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Rally HQ Welshpool/Friday evening
This Bulldog Rally, the International section of which forms the opening round of this season’s Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship, presents to a certain extent the new face of British Rallying. There is a brilliant array of young drivers, many with new cars, which will almost certainly mean a fresh pecking order. One visible sign of the times moving on is that there is no entry from Mark Higgins. Mark for many years was pivotal to the battle for the Championship title, and indeed he was just pipped on the post in the past two years.
One driver who has had the experience of the Championship evolving through the years is Gwyndaf Evans. He is now the yardstick, and what a yardstick he is. He starts at 2 in a Lancer Evo 10, the car he helped to develop towards the end of last year. Reportedly Gwyndaf was very quick on the Thursday shakedown test.
Ahead of Gwyndaf is British Champion Keith Cronin (No.1 seed). Keith, from the South West tip of Ireland, is undoubtedly lightning quick down the stages. He is driving the Pirelli Impreza for the first time in competition, and the million-dollar question must be, can he reproduce the performances he put up last year? Keith has been accustomed to his own closely knit team from home around him so there may be a settling in period. Keith, who admits to getting pretty nervous before the start of a rally, told us. “We did the recce today and the stages are tricky, a lot of slippy places where we won’t really be able to attack. It will be difficult running No.1 on the road as there is mud on the top of the tracks. Being realistic, no one should get close to the Super 2000 here”.
Just who can threaten Keith’s chances of retaining his title? There are many candidates. One of the big unknowns is how Craig Breen will get on in his Fiesta Super 2000, the only one of this new breed of rally car in the event. Can the young man from Waterford in the South East of Ireland ‘do the business’ here through the Welsh forests? That’s what we’re about to find out this weekend! There are top drivers here from all over the British Isles, plus welcome visitors from Iceland, Finland and Australia.
A big part of the event will be the battle for the R2 class between the 7 Citroen C2R2 Max contenders in the Citroen Racing Trophy, against the Fiesta contestants, plus the two new Renault Twingos of the Finnish drivers Matti Rantanen and Jarkko Nikara. Elfyn Evans, Gwyndaf’s son, is the highest seeded Fiesta driver, while just three of the C2R2 Max drivers who should shine are Robert Barrable, Luke Pinder and Mark Donnelly. One of the C2R2 drivers, Donegal man Joe McGonigle, got off on the wrong foot when his practice car broke down during the recce. Joe was kindly rescued at one point by fellow competitors Mark Donnelly & Paddy Robinson.
That’s just a taster of things to come on the rally. As well as the 37 contenders in the International part of the event, there is a huge entry on the Historic section, with all sorts of Escorts, Volvos, Porsches, Saabs, and even an Ascona in the hands of Phil Collins! Plus there is a BRC Challenge, a National, and a Clubman section, with a great variety of Subaru machines, an Audi Quattro, a Metro 6R4 and many more interesting cars.
Updates to the International section entry list show that Adam Gould, who has Craig Drew co-driving, will start 4th on the road, and keep 37 on his Impreza. Daniel Sigurdarson will start at the back of the top ten, Owen Murphy just outside the top fifteen and Johannes Gunnarson between 22 & 23 on the road.
More news to follow: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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