ITV F1 analyst Tony Jardine, and
Daily Express sports reporter Bob McKenzie are to be reunited for the first time since the 2002
Jim Clark Rally when they join forces for the final round of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship - the Tempest Rally – this weekend.
The pair will compete for the first time in a Group A car as they share the Sportinglife.com Peugeot 206 run by Chris Moore of Innovation Motorsports. Moore is adding support from his RallySchool UK business, which operates rally days and tuition courses from its Tong base near Leeds, to give the two media men the best car preparation possible ahead of the event.
McKenzie - who famously ran semi-naked around
Silverstone in front of 100,000 people for charity just before the British GP earlier this year after losing a bet with
McLaren's Ron Dennis – admitted it will be a tough event, adding that he will need more than just the stamina that carried him around the Silverstone Grand Prix circuit back in July.
"This rally is a flat out sprint," he said. "The stages are of varying lengths and surfaces to keep you wary, which make it a very difficult rally. We have tough night stages over the notorious Ash Ranges and the complex forests of Warren Heath and Yateley Woods to thrash through the following day.
"I won't just need stamina, I will need big bursts of energy to get me through...once I have chipped off the rust after my lay off!"
The Tempest will mark the first time Jardine has competed in the forests since the Sunseeker Rally in February and he admitted he was looking forward to returning to the stages.
"After the demise of MG, who I used to drive for, I have spent weekends between Grands Prix racing rather than rallying," he said. "Now I am quite twitchy about the prospect of going flat out in fifth gear between the trees again, but at least my old mate Bob will be there to see me through. I just hope we are both up to it!
