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RALLY NEWS NO.1
Gateshead Stadium/Friday 6pm
Two times Pirelli British Rally Champion, Jonny Milner, heads an
impressive list to start this year's series. Jonny has changed
from his faithful Corolla to a Subaru WRC, and behind him he has
quite an array of other WRCs that should make for an interesting
race for the lead. There are many interesting facets to this
Pirelli Rally. Group N has a strong line up, as has the Super
1600 category.
The drivers had an opportunity to check their pace notes this
morning, the consensus of opinion being that the stages are in great
condition and very fast. Milner commented. "I'll have to get my
brain tuned in to how fast it is, it's a real opener to the
championship. I want to win the rally, but at the same time it seems
to be an omen for me winning the championship to come 2nd on this
Pirelli event". Jonny went on. "I've done a day's
testing with the car, its pretty unbelievable, we'll play ourselves
in tonight, to see the pace. Last year there was bad fog on the
Friday night, we saw a little fog this morning on the tops of the
hills, but hopefully it will be clear this evening".
David Higgins at No.2 is driving the Steve Petch Hyundai WRC. David,
twice the USA Rally Champion, commented about his drive in the
Hyundai. "I've had a run in the car on Monday, it's pretty
stunning. We're going to give it a real go and hopefully
continue in the championship, possibly not in the Hyundai, but we
don't really know as yet". Austin MacHale was to be at
No.3 in his Corolla WRC, but the Dubliner is up to his ears in work
and couldn't make it, but does plan to have the car on the next
Pirelli BRC round, the Rally of Wales. Alistair Ginley at No.4
is out in a new S9 Subaru WRC. His car has a paddle gear
change which may take a while for Alistair to get used to. In
addition, he is shipping the car out next week for the Cyprus Rally,
so he doesn't plan any heroics this weekend. Barry Johnson at
No.5 is also in a new model Subaru WRC and Barry could be right in
the picture for this event. Paul Bird at No.6 is one of the mot
exciting drivers around at the moment. He has discovered that his
Focus WRC has had low rear differential pressure, which was making
the car go all-sideways on the gravel. This was not only slow, it
was also causing punctures. The engineers were working on the car
today. Monster Mob Ducati man Paul hopes that with this sorted
the car should go a lot better.
John Lloyd is next in the line up at No.7, John a very experienced
competitor. Then at 8 it is Steve Perez in the Vodka Kick Focus WRC.
Steve has a new co driver this weekend in the shape of Daniel
Barritt, and could be another vying for top honours. At No.9 is
young Matthew Wilson in an M-Sport Focus WRC having his first go at
a British Championship International. Neil Buckley rounds off
the top 10 and is the first of the Group N runners in his Lancer.
Neil is the current British Group N Champion. He didn't seem
overly confident before the start, reckoning his car is just a
little bit standard compared to some of the others. He said,
"We'll make the most of the darkness tonight. I think Doreen
Rees should be fairly sharp and Ryan Champion, but we will see how
we go". Dorian Rees runs at No.12 in his GpN Subaru. Neil
Gatt is at 14 in another gpN Impreza. Ryan Champion at 15 in his GpN
Lancer.
Guy Wilks runs with No.30 on his Suzuki, but starts after Ryan
Champion (No.15), and ahead of Italian Alessandro Broccoli (No.16)
in his Fiat Punto, with Leon Pesticcio (17) in a similar car. There
is a very impressive array of Super 1600 machinery, including Simon
Hughes, Gareth Jones and Olly Marshall in Renault Clios.
Visiting Finnish driver Aki Tiskonen drives a Saxo at No.19.
One Super 1600 missing from the line up is Steve Hill's Alfa Romeo,
which has been relegated to the National part of the rally because
of homologation difficulties.
Further stories in Group N include: Rapid Ulsterman Philip Morrow is
slotted in at 20 in his Lancer. 22 Motorsport are running 2 of the
lady drivers, Swedish girl Jenni-Lee Hermansson and Scottish lass
Lorna Smith, both in Group N Imprezas. That should be a good race!
Another lady driver is Kate Heath, current Ladies Champion, she is
down at 62 in her GpN Impreza. For now, we have 6 of the new Fiat
Stilos in the rally, with more to come during the season. All
compete for the Fiat Stilo Rally Cup. Early favourites in that
category include: Shaun Woffinden and Spanish driver Joan Roca.
More stories later tonight.
BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON
www.rallynews.net
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