Round three of the Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship is guaranteed to be a close battle if the opening skirmishes have any bearing on the remainder of this, the British Isles’ premier rally series.
The Pirelli International Rally has always been a cracking counter and although it has moved from round one back in 2008 to its current position as the final gravel event before the change to asphalt, it will be a tough challenge for the BRC protagonists.
This year the series has three Dulux Trade MSA British Rally Championship titles on offer; overall, Formula 2 and Teams, all of which have been well represented despite the country’s ongoing financial turmoil.
The series began with an event that plugged the geographical gap in the calendar. The South of England’s Rallye Sunseeker International attracted around twelve thousand people to the Poole Quay start in what promised to be an interesting season.
Then, just over a month later Bulldog International Rally North Wales moved the crews to classic forests with names like Dyfi, Dyfnant and Gartheiniog, names that stir the soul of those fervent rally fans with a memory of equally classic battles of the past. But on the first two rounds of the 2011 season it was youthful exuberance and skill that set the pulses racing, the BRC attracting drivers whose average age is just 23 years.
Dulux Trade MSA British Formula 2 Rally Championship
Not only youth, but diversity of nationality sets the front wheel drive pilots apart in this, the 53rd year of the British Rally Championship. Leading the pack on the opening round was the Estonian crew of Siim Plangi and Marek Sarapuu, their diminutive Renault Twingo stopping the clocks just ahead of their Autosport Technology team-mates. They struggled against more powerful machinery in Wales, but still lead the series by three points ahead of the Carlisle based Pirelli Rally.
Astonishing though their performance has been, since they approach each event afresh, their Finnish team-mates Mikko Pajunen and Jani Salo have also been impressive in the sister Twingo. Their stage times were enough to win the opener, but time penalties dropped them a handful of seconds behind Plangi and they suffered two punctures on round two, leaving them trailing despite setting more fastest stages times.
Northamptonshire’s Callum Black has been consistent in his 586 Sports Suzuki Swift, but he has struggled on both rallies with lack of traction. He and co-driver Paul Wakely took the third podium step in Bournemouth, but couldn’t find the pace to repeat the feat last time out on his step up from winning last year’s BRC Challenge.
Pajunen, Black and Irishman Craig Breen all share second place in the Dulux Trade MSA British Formula 2 Rally Championship standings, three points adrift of Plangi. But Breen and Gareth Roberts have a healthy seven point cushion in the Fiesta SportTrophy, having won both rounds so far despite mechanical problems on round one. The WRC Academy driver is scoring points for the M-Sport Ford Rally Team, but with just his tally to add on both events, the team trails in second place, just a single point clear of Black’s solo team entry.
Although not in the top five in the points after retirement on Rallye Sunseeker, Mark Donnelly and reigning British champion co-driver Barry McNulty took a tooth-and-nail victory in Wales in their hired Renault Clio. They battled with former Citroën Racing Trophy champion Marty McCormack, who, like Donnelly, debuted a car in the British series. With David Moynihan in the co-driver’s seat of the turbocharged Citroën DS3, the Northern Irish driver led early on, but the lead changed three times as the event drew to a close, Donnelly surviving an off on the penultimate stage while McCormack stalled on the final start-line, dropping enough time to give his countryman a memorable victory.
With Breen and Pajunen the only BRC “old hands”, it is pleasing to see a young Welshman amongst the newcomers making their mark at the head of the points table. Nick Cristofaro and Rob Fagg have made a significant impression so far, taking second Fiesta points back in February and overcoming the loss of several gears to finish, somewhat relieved, in Wales.
So, with less than a week to go before Kielder echoes to the sound of the young chargers, all eyes are on the skies as the weather could play a vital role in deciding the result for a second year on the Pirelli International Rally.
Last year it was a double dust whammy; Icelandic volcanic ash clouds making travel difficult for some and impossible for others, while the still air and dry conditions meant crews struggled for visibility in the hanging dust on Friday evening.
The rally starts at 6.30pm next Friday (29th April) from Carlisle Racecourse and just two stages will decide the running order for Saturday when the bulk of the mileage takes place. Re-seeded overnight, the crews face eleven stages and eighty miles before the finish back at the racecourse at just after 8pm.
– Credit: www.rallybrc.co.uk