Other established Escort Mk2 contenders include Dick Slaughter/Geoff Dearing, Simon Tysoe/Rob Dyson, Phil and Mick Squires, Charlie Taylor/Steve Bielby, Frank Cunningham/Ryland James and James Potter/Steve Smallbone, while Paul Griffiths/Sam Collis could be right at the head of the action in their Escort Mk2.
Class D3 for the 2-litre non-multi valve cars will also deliver a fine contest, with the fastest cars getting up amongst the BD-powered cars in D5. Will Onions and Tim Hobbs (RS2000) are leading the championship standings, but have plenty of rivals including Richard Lane/Frank Richer and Arwel Evans/Arwel Jenkins, while BTCC racer Mike Jordan makes his Welsh rallying debut in his RS2000. A dark horse could be the Escort Mk2 of former Avenger driver Stephen French and Colin Booth.
Elsewhere in category 3, welcome variety to the Escort pack will be provided by the Sunbeam Lotuses of Adrian Seabridge/Daniel Seabridge and Julian Burch/Simon May and the Vauxhall Chevette HSR of Roger Kilty/Lynette Banks.
The Rally Marketing Mid Wales Historic Stages is organised by Newtown and District Automobile Club Ltd.
The historic rally starts from Newtown at 4pm on Saturday, 28 June and resumes at 8am on Sunday morning.
