Not only is International Rally Yorkshire the stage for the British Rally Championship for drivers, but the prestigious Dulux Trade MSA British Teams’ Rally Championship will also play out in the Dalby forest complex this weekend.
The positions at the head of the Teams Championship have swapped twice so far in 2010. Pirelli TEG Sport took first blood in Wales, but JR Motorsports took the advantage after round two, holding on until before the last championship counter in Northern Ireland.
Gwyndaf Evans and Phil Pugh’s retirement on the event, coupled with a good finish from Adam Gould/Robbie Durant and Keith Cronin/Barry McNulty’s win, put Pirelli TEG Sport back at the top of the Teams’ table and with Ramsport’s Dave Weston absent in Yorkshire, it will be a straight fight for the title on the fast North Yorkshire stages.
However the JRM team has played a blinder in the run-up to Rally Yorkshire, signing young Alastair Fisher with the hugely experienced Rory Kennedy taking his usual place on the pacenotes. The addition of Fisher, who has a second and third place from two asphalt events this year, is likely to make the event a truly tactical one at the front.
Cronin’s problem is one that many would envy. He needs just a handful of points to take the driver’s title, seventh place being good enough to retain his BRC crown, but needs to stay in touch with the front runners to enable Pirelli TEG Sport to retain theirs.
All in all the final round of the 2010 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship should prove a classic, a different series and event winner more than likely under the circumstances and the Teams battling it out for an MSA Gold Flag trophy.
International Rally Yorkshire gets underway with an autograph session and ceremonial start on the south end of the town’s Marine Drive from 6pm on Friday. A single seventeen mile stage awaits the crews in the Dalby Forest complex, before a service and overnight halt back at Marine Drive.
Saturday sees two loops of Dalby stages split by a another service in Scarborough, before the eventual Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Champion is crowned at the Marine Drive finish at 6.15pm.
For more information on the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship visit www.rallybrc.co.uk