Wales Rally GB Will See Star-Studded Field

Next month’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (27-30 October) will feature a star-studded line-up after organiser, International Motor Sports, confirmed it has received a huge number of entries from right around the globe for the UK’s date on the FIA World Rally Championship calendar.

Entries for the penultimate round of this year’s pulsating WRC will see  a world-class field of 64 International cars representing no fewer than 23 nations lining up to compete against-the-clock on the 22 gruelling special stages, all but one of which are set in the legendary Welsh forests.

Crews are coming from as far afield as New Zealand, Peru and Argentina to contest what is predicted to be the most exciting and challenging in memory.

With Wales celebrating its ‘Year of Adventure’, the 2016 competitive route totalling 208 miles (332km) is the longest in recent history, while a move to a new date at the end of October promises to deliver drier and faster conditions.

It could also be the fiercest-fought. The first nine rounds of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship have already produced six different winners, including two famous victories for Britain’s top gun Kris Meeke.

The Ulsterman finished second in Wales last November and is now hoping to become the first home winner since Richard Burns last sprayed the champagne back in 2000.

Leading the International entries is Volkswagen Motorsport’s multiple World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier.

Having completed a hat-trick of Welsh wins last November, the Frenchman is seeking his fourth consecutive success in what is widely hailed as one of the toughest rounds on the WRC calendar.

Ogier, though, can expect stiff in-house competition from his two VW team-mates – Jari-Matti Latvala from Finland and young Norwegian ace Andreas Mikkelsen – both of whom have already stood on the top step of the podium this year.

With the official Citroën factory team taking a break in 2016 while it develops an exciting new car for 2017, the front-running DS3s have been entered into selected events by the Abu Dhabi Total World Rally Team.

In Wales, double winner Meeke will be joined by Ireland’s rising star Craig Breen and Stéphane Lefebvre, as long as the Frenchman recovers from the injuries suffered in a high-speed accident in Germany.

Local hero Elfyn Evans and Irishman Robert Duggan have both received free entries via the Road to Wales scheme as winners of the MSA British Rally Championship and DMACK Junior British Rally Championship respectively.

Evans lifted the BRC crown earlier this month in an R5 category Fiesta and Duggan will be competing among the R2 entries in his title-winning Vauxhall Adam.

Other notable entries include a quartet of promising British young guns: Osian Pryce, Gus Greensmith and Rhys Yates all in Fiesta R5s plus Chris Ingram in another of the Vauxhall Adams.

Fans wanting to catch the FIA World Championship action can take advantage of significant savings when buying their tickets in advance. Adult ticket prices start at just £20 for the family-friendly RallyFest at Cholmondeley Castle, £25 for a day ticket or £99 for the full four-day event pass. All tickets include free parking and an event programme priced at £9.