by Geoff Mayes.
Alister McRae, Gwyndaf Evans, Martin Rowe, Tapio Laukkanen, Jonny Milner, Mark and David Higgins – all former British Rally Champions, and also all entrants for round one of the 2006 Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Rally, which kicks off from Carlisle this coming Saturday.
Despite the long lay off since the Tempest Rally last November the off-season will have been well worth the wait. Now that the expensive World Rally Cars no longer count for overall honours and Group N and S1600 cars being the order of the day, a number of teams have already registered their interest in the new look championship.
1997 and 2005 British Champion Mark Higgins will attempt to retain his title this year at the helm of a Morgan Stobart Subaru Impreza N12.
"I am really looking forward to the 2006 championship," he noted. "I reckon its going to be one of the closest in years and its great to see all the young faces out there having a go. The run up hasn’t been ideal, as testing has been extremely limited but I think any one of a number of drivers could take the honours this year - ourselves included!"
Mark's team-mate will be Lorna Smith, the 2005 Ladies Champion. Lorna also very nearly won the production title outright!
The 2005 Production class winner, Barry Clark will team up alongside experienced WRC regular Roman Kresta in a pair of Stobart/ VK Ford Fiesta S1600’s and could prove to be a match for the 4 wheel drive cars on the tarmac rallies.
Mitsubishi Motorsport will once again field 'works' cars for a variety of top drivers. 2005 Evo Challenge winner Ryan Champion will be on board one car, with another driven by the very quick Rory Galligan. Galligan proved to be the quickest production class driver in 2005 but was dogged by a succession of problems and will be hoping for better luck in 2006. A late entry for the team will also see 2004 champion David Higgins start the Pirelli rally, and is sure to spark a bit of sibling rivalry with brother Mark!
