Rally GB hails Cardiff service move

Rally of Great Britain event co-ordinator Andrew Kellitt believes that the decision to base the service park in Cardiff Bay this year will definitely be a step forward.

The move was confirmed on Wednesday at the media launch for the 2009 event. In previous years the Welsh round of the World Rally Championship had been split between the capital in Cardiff and Swansea, with the SA1 Swansea Waterfront playing host to the service last year and in 2007 - and prior to that with it being located outside Swansea at Felindre.

Now though with everything in Cardiff, Kellitt reckons this should create a much better atmosphere for the fans.

"The major change this year is the fact the event will be based entirely in Cardiff for the first time with the service area down in Cardiff Bay," Kellitt told Crash.net in an exclusive interview following the launch.

"It will make it a big event all in one place. Swansea was very helpful to us and worked very well. But it meant the event became fragmented along the South Wales coast.

"It is much better for it to all be based in one place with the rally headquarters, service area and all the teams staying in one area. It should create a much better atmosphere."

Asked about the route for the 65th Rally GB, Kellitt added that not much has changed compared to 2008 - although the Millennium Stadium test has been axed, along with both runs through the Walters Arena SSS.

"The whole format is very similar. In 2008 we moved north back into the Hafren and Sweet Lamb area for the first time in many years and that was a very big change. This year then it is just sorting that out and changing a few details," he explained.

"On the first day for example, Sweet Lamb has been extended so there will be much more to see from the main viewing area. They will be using the river crossing competitively and that doubles the amount of time in the main spectator area there.

"Last year on the way back down on the Friday we ran in Walters Arena too - just a short spectator stage, twice and that is not being run. We are not going to the Millennium Stadium on the Saturday either because of the time of year we are running the event. There is a pitch in [for the Rugby] and we can't have the use of the stadium due to that.

"But while we have lost three stages numerically, the actual competitive distance is only a few hundred metres different to last year.

"As for the Sunday, while it is shorter competitively to last year, there is no service between the two loops around Port Talbot and Rheola. That will make it a bit of an endurance test, as well as a speed test for the competitors. You can do 80 kilometres of stages maximum between services under the regulations and this is just 160 metres less than that limit. It is measured to fit.

"Otherwise though, it is very similar and not a lot different to what we have had set up for a number of years now."

So does he have any predictions for the October finale?

"I don't think so. The way the world championship is building it is going to be a big fight. Sebastien Loeb showed by taking the victory last year in Wales and having had a close battle with Jari-Matti Latvala that he is certainly up to winning in the British forests," Kellitt summed-up.