2007
Silverstone Tyres Stars 1400 Rally champion Luke Pinder will graduate to the 'main' series this season and the 24-year-old has set his sights on taking the glory in the R2 class of the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship.
Pinder, who used a Chris Birkbeck-run Ford Ka in his title winning season, will upgrade to a 1.4 litre Ford Puma Kit car this year and he will also have a 'new' co-driver in Kim Baker.
Pinder and Baker worked together in 2005, when they took the honours in the Peugeot 206 1400 Championship and the pair are both looking forward to the prospect of another winning year together.
Luke has also been given a boost ahead of the first round after securing a new backer, namely RDL [Retirement Developments Ltd] - a Leeds based company headed by
Ferrari and Maserati racer Phil Burgan. RDL are also a personal backer of British
MotoGP star
James Toseland and Pinder is hoping to spend some time with him to learn about sponsorship development.
Now though his focus is on the Pirelli International Rally, the opening round in the BRC, which runs from April 18-19.
"We are really up for it this year and can't wait to get the season underway," said Pinder. "The last time I drove on a rally was back in December on Rally GB where we won our class.
"This was part of our prize for winning the 'Stars' championship, but the car we used was a showroom specification 1400cc MG ZR and the 185 bhp+ Puma has little in common with it. It will undoubtedly be a steep learning curve!
"It should prove interesting to say the least - especially if the weather is bad and it often is on the Pirelli. We will be testing before it as it is important to get plenty of time in the driving seat to get to know the car."
