The entry list for this year's RBS International Manx Rally is possibly one of the strongest ever assembled, not only in terms of quality but also in quantity, since it first took to the closed public roads on the Isle of Man back in 1980.
Times may be hard, but the notion that this rally has become one of the most popular in the UK calendar is amply borne out by a glance at the names of those crews who will be lining up in Port Erin for the start of the first leg at 7.00pm on Friday May 9.
As a qualifying round of both the Richard Egger Insurance MSA Asphalt and the Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championships, it is not unreasonable to expect all the leading contenders from each to be present but, in addition, the 120-strong list is littered with the names of others who are there purely because they want to be.
Having arrived back at the TT Grandstand to take their record-breaking fifth victory on the event in 2007, Kenny McKinstry and Noel Orr (Subaru Impreza WRC) will be first to tackle the five stages on the Friday evening, ahead of former National Champions Roger Duckworth and Mark Broomfield in another Impreza. Neither crew is contesting a full Championship this year, rather they have chosen to contest the events that they enjoy.
2002 Manx winner Melvyn Evans and co-driver Sean Mullally set out on their MSA Asphalt Championship campaign, while Jon Ingram and Ian Allsop will be looking to consolidate their position at the head of the MSA Gravel Championship points table after the first two rounds.
Making it an Impreza top five in their S12B, front-running Irishmen Tim McNulty and Eugene O'Donnell will be starting in front of the Hyundai Accent WRC of defending Gravel Champions Marcus Dodd and Andrew Bargery.
Local interest will be focussed on the Vauxhall Nova of Rob Watson and Bruce Craig while, right behind them, John Cope will have Kirk Michael co-driver Rob Fagg reading the route notes in his Subaru Impreza.
