With the month between Rallye Sunseeker’s initiation as the season’s first event and round two all but gone, the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship heads to the Bulldog International Rally North Wales with the opening skirmish still fresh in everyone’s minds.
Having set the benchmark on round one of both Scottish and British series, leading from stage two, right to Bournemouth’s sea-front podium, David Bogie and Kevin Rae arrive in Welshpool this weekend with a perfect hat-trick.
The Border Counties Rally on 19th March saw their third win in three events in their familiar Mitsubishi Evo 9, giving them tremendous momentum for their “Bulldog” foray. However they will need better luck in Wales this year, having suffered in 2010 with a down-on-power car, resulting in a disappointing eleventh place.
Tom Cave and Craig Parry aren’t planning to make life easy for the Scots though. They too have momentum on their side with double victory on back-to back events the weekend after Rallye Sunseeker. A class win on the Malcolm Wilson Rally and outright victory on the Mid Wales Stages should help, but the success won’t be as fresh in their minds as Bogie’s and it wasn’t at the wheel of their Mitsubishi. They do have local support on their side though, Welshmen Tom and Craig considering this their ‘home’ event.
Another local crew up for a fight is that of Pirelli Star Driver Elfyn Evans and co-driver Andrew Edwards. Placed third on their Subaru Impreza debut, they have already completed their pre-round two test and have pronounced themselves happy. Added to that is the knowledge that this was the event on which Elfyn secured his Pirelli Star Driver nomination and took a stunning ninth place overall in a Fiesta ST. Living just a handful of miles from some of the stages should also provide massive local support for the duo – barring problems surely contenders for victory too?
The first Englishmen of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship front-runners are Adam Gould and Seb Marshall. Reunited with Marshall this year, the former Pirelli Star Driver winner had a steep learning curve in Bournemouth, acquiring the latest shape Impreza just days before the rally. They took a pair of fastest stages times and were never out of the top six, battling with, but eventually beaten into fourth by Evans. Having spent a week working on his own car at TEG Sport, the Bristolian announced in a typically new media way, via Twitter, that the latest upgrades had been fitted to the car ready for the Welsh forests.
Another Welshman on his ‘home’ event is Jason Pritchard. The 2010 Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship Privateers Champion picked up where he left off in Bournemouth. He and Robbie Durant’s early third place became fourth when Gould got past on stage four, but the gap was less than two seconds when the slippery conditions got the better of the youngster, ending the event with his Impreza in a ditch. 2010 was Pritchard’s four wheel drive debut and with a solid seventh place here in Wales and a fervent desire to prove his pace, it would be a brave man who bet against a Pritchard podium.
In the case of Jonny Greer and Dai Roberts, they still have a mountain to climb technically. By his own admission the BRC leader for most of 2010 had a difficult debut in the newly purchased Škoda Fabia Super 2000, struggling to adapt to the alien beast from his Mitsubishi. But with no additional seat time since Bournemouth, after the engine was shipped to the Czech Republic for rebuild, they will have to continue their steep learning curve in the most difficult conditions – amongst truly tough competition.
The next crew have plenty of experience including two British Rally Championship titles, but while Irishman Daniel Barry can draw on multiple champion co-driver Rory Kennedy’s vast experience, it will be his own IRC and BRC knowledge that will help him get to grips with his new Evo 10’s characteristics. Both Barry and the car certainly have the pace, but he lacks experience of the Welsh forests and will need all Kennedy’s help to do well.
Finally, an Englishman, Irishman and Scotsman went into a bar… or more accurately a Scotsman, Irishman and Englishman make up the final drivers in the list of BRC crews on Bulldog Rally North Wales.
Euan Thorburn/Paul Beaton just missed out on a Welsh podium in 2010 and started well on Rallye Sunseeker, lying fourth after the opening stage, but retirement followed on stage three so their season effectively starts here. Robert Barrable/Damien Connolly have had a troubled week ahead of the Bulldog, with their Škoda’s oil pressure warning light making an unwelcome appearance before a scheduled test. Their Škoda début last month was a similar experience to Greer’s, finding it difficult to gel with the new machine. Finally Tom Clark/Alastair Wyllie finished well last time out, but lack of experience of both event and new Impreza could make their Bulldog International Rally North Wales debut one of information overload
In less than 48 hours all the crews will have just a night’s sleep separating them from some of the best rally stages in the world, but it is still possible to catch them before the off at Welshpool’s ceremonial start on Friday evening.
Cars will be assembled from 18:00 in the town’s Church Street car park, with a half-hour autograph session from 18:15 alongside the fairground, stalls and live band. The Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship cars will be officially flagged away from the start by Mayor Estelle Bleivas at 19:00, followed immediately by the series support championship, The BRC Challenge.
The action begins in earnest on Saturday morning, centred on the Rally HQ and service area Welshpool’s Livestock Centre with ten stages over three loops throughout the day. The winner will be announced at the Livestock Centre champagne finish just after 7pm.
For more information on the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship visit www.rallybrc.co.uk.