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| Pirelli International Rally |
| RALLY NEWS No.1 - Pre start - Friday @ 17:46:11 |
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RALLY NEWS NO.1 Carlisle Race Course/Friday evening
The news that former multiple British Rally Champion Mark Higgins has put in a last minute entry on this Pirelli International Rally, has added a terrific air of excitement to what is in any case a great line-up of top drivers. Mark, who has Nicky Grist co-driving for him in a GpN Impreza, is, along with Gwyndaf Evans, the seasoned campaigner amongst some of the most talented young rally drivers in the UK & Ireland. They are the yardsticks and if any of the young drivers finish ahead of Mark or Gwyndaf they will know they have the speed. Gwyndaf is of course also a former British Rally Champion.
Last season Mark had some fascinating battles with Keith Cronin. Irish driver Keith eventually took the British title. He has certainly made the transition from his Lancer to his ‘prize-drive’ Pirelli sponsored Impreza in the best possible way by winning the opening round of this season’s Dulux Trade British Championship opener in Wales, the Bulldog Rally.
There are so many good young drivers in the top ten -–Alastair Fisher, Scottish Champion David Bogie, Dave Weston Jnr, Adam Gould, Evo Championship points leader Jonny Greer, Euan Thorburn and there are many more. Just one more part of the top equation is of course Craig Breen in his Fiesta Super 2000. Craig, who just turned 20 in February, has enjoyed an up and down season so far. He won the Fiesta Championship division here last year, and was 10th overall in the main rally. That performance earned him the Pirelli Star driver award. So, although the route is different to last year, in principal the Kielder complex should hold no fears for Craig and it will be really interesting to see what his pace is.
Mark Higgins, who competed on a rally recently in Trinidad with Grist co-driving, told us as he awaited the starters flag, “It’s good to be back on the British Championship. I’m hoping to just enjoy it, no pressure. I haven’t registered for the Championship, yet, but may do, because if you aren’t registered you don’t get the same publicity.” He continued, “I haven’t even sat in the car yet, and if I feel comfortable on the first stage, I’ll push!”
Behind the leading group there should be all sorts of fascinating class battles. Elfyn Evans in his Fiesta ST should be the man to watch in class R3. The next class down, for cars under 1600cc, should provide all the fireworks. There are 6 Citroen C2R2 Max cars listed and they will be battling for their share of the €20,000 Citroen Racing Trophy prize fund. As regards taking the class honours they will face stiff opposition from the likes of Jarkko Nikara and Matti Rantanen in the 2 Twingos. PG Andersson will be an unknown quantity in the M-Sport Fiesta R2 but the former Junior World Champion will almost certainly open a few eyes. Mark Donnelly/Paddy Robinson are the highest seeded Citroen crew at No.20 with Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly at 22 and Richard Sykes/Simon Taylor at 23. As regards Class R1 the young Finnish crew of Mikko Pajunen/Janne Perala are tipped to be future stars and it will be interesting to see how far up the classification they can get in their Suzuki Swift.
Late news on the rally is that stage 9, Shepherdshield, will not run. Changes to entry include; Mark Higgins/Nicky Grist will have No.11 on the car and will start 5th on the road. Owen Murphy/James O’Brien retain the number 24 on their Lancer but start 15th on the road. Peter Horsey (No.25) and Harry Hunt (28) are non-starters. This gives a total of 35 International starters. In addition there is a bulging list of Historic entries plus the National Rally which is called the Pirelli Tour of Cumbria. Additionally there is a Land Rover Rally and the Challenge Rally.
More news later: BRIAN & LIZ PATTERSON www.rallynews.net
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