World Class Entry Received For Wales Rally GB

Next month’s Dayinsure Wales Rally GB (4-7 October) will feature a star-studded line-up after the event organiser, International Motor Sports, confirmed it has received a world class entry for Britain’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Entries closed late last week, with an outstanding field of 60 International cars representing 19 nations lining up to compete against-the-clock on an exciting new-look route featuring 23 gruelling special stages.

The entry list is topped by the world championship winning M-Sport Ford World Rally Team starring last year’s winner Elfyn Evans and also includes another Welsh driver, Matt Edwards. This year’s eagerly-awaited Wales Rally GB also features the final two rounds of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship – a title race which Edwards is hoping to win in Wales having dominated the 2018 series to date.

While many eyes will be on local heroes Evans and Edwards, crews are coming from as far afield as New Zealand, India, USA and Argentina to contest one of the most exciting and challenging events on the WRC calendar.

The introduction of new laws to close public roads for motor sport has enabled significant innovations to the packed four-day schedule. Thursday evening’s popular curtain-raiser at the Tir Prince Raceway in Conwy County has been enhanced while Friday’s action is switched to new and extended speed tests set in north Wales.

On ‘Super Saturday’ the crews face some serious mileage in the classic forests of mid Wales before Sunday’s ground-breaking finale sees cars racing through the streets of Llandudno for the very first time. The winners of both the 2018 Wales Rally GB and the British Rally Championship will then be crowned on the resort’s famous seaside Promenade.

Competition for places on the WRC podium will be fiercely fought as the World Championship reaches a rousing climax. With victories in the first nine rounds shared evenly between the three major protagonists – Sébastien Ogier, Thierry Neuville and Ott Tänak – this year’s titanic title battle is exceeding all expectations. Moreover, with the three drivers representing three different manufacturers – Ford, Hyundai and Toyota respectively – the battle for top honours among the teams is incredibly tight.

Ogier is gunning for a fifth Rally GB win – a feat no driver has achieved in the event’s 86-year history. To rewrite the record books, however, Ogier will have to overcome a super-competitive field which, of course, includes his team-mate Evans who made his own history last year when becoming the first Welsh driver ever to win a WRC round.

Among the factory teams Hyundai is fielding three of its i20 Coupe WRCs for championship leader Neuville, Hayden Paddon and Andreas Mikkelesen; Toyota has entered a trio of Yaris WRCs for new signing Tänak, multiple Rally GB winner Jari-Matti Latvala and young gun Esapekka Lappi; Citroën’s two-pronged attack will star Mads Ostberg and popular Irishman Craig Breen.

Other notable entries include an encouraging number of British contenders in R5 cars. The BRC front-runners include Matt Edwards, David Bogie, Alex Laffey and Rhys Yates while Tom Cave, Gus Greensmith and Chris Ingram will be among the other home stars looking to shine in the WRC2 category.

Skoda Motorsport is also out in force entering two of its pace-setting Fabia R5s for WRC2 title chaser Pontus Tidemand and its sensational young gun Kalle Rovanperä. Hyundai Motorsport and Citroën Total, too, are among the WRC2 contenders with entries for Jari Pekka Huttunen and Stéphane Lefebvre.

As introduced last year, enthusiastic amateur crews with nationally-registered machinery have been allowed to join the main WRC event. As a result, the entry list boasts a number of much-loved Subaru Imprezas plus an iconic Ford Escort Mk2.

Entries for the accompanying WRGB National Rally, which shadows the main event, close today (Tuesday 11 September). A few additional places have now been made available for those wishing to join the 80+ amateur crews already registered to compete alongside the best drivers in the world.