By Paul Evans
A large contingent of top Welsh rally drivers are heading to Belgium today, all aiming for Protyre Motorsport UK Asphalt Rally Championship points on tomorrow’s Rally van Wervik.
Leading the international tour is reigning champion and series leader Jason Pritchard. The Builth Wells ace has scored maximum points on all three rounds so far this year, but has left his super-successful North Road Garage-backed Focus WRC at home and taken his lesser used and less powerful Fiesta S2000 to West Flanders instead. It’s a bit of a calculated gamble, as he and co-driver Phil Clarke took the S2000 to Wervik twelve months ago and retired with clutch problems.
This could give Damian Cole a great chance to close the points gap on Pritchard, although his Get Connected/Energizer-backed Focus WRC isn’t fixed after the last outing and he has also swapped cars and is taking his Fiesta WRC. The Abergavenny driver will also have a different co-driver in the form of Dale Bowen.
Rallying in Belgium is something that Hugh Hunter has wanted to do for a long time, and at last the Ruthin man is less than 24 hours away from making that dream come true. His car, meanwhile, will be completely at home on the flat roads that meander between cabbage fields, as Pieter Tsjoen drove this exact same Ford Focus WRC to victory on the 2006 Belgian Rally Championship. Before that, it was a works car driven by Belgian driver François Duval. Co-driven by Rob Fagg, Hunter will have to adapt quickly to the unique characteristics of the challenging open and fast asphalt lanes, and despite so many things being new, a big haul of points could be on the horizon.
Rhidian Daniels/Tomos Whittle take their Citroën C1 Max to Belgium. The West Wales crew finished runners-up in the B10 category last year and will be aiming to increase their current class lead.
Defending B12 class champion Mike Pugsley is taking his stunning 1974 Escort Mk1 RS2000 to Belgium. The Bedlinog man overcame a multitude of problems last time out on the Manx National, and together with co-driver Marc Clatworthy will be hoping for a more trouble-free run this time.
The one-day 60 stage mile Rally van Wervik starts tomorrow (Saturday 15 June) at 08.30 local time and finishes at 19.30 after all 12 high-speed stages have been completed.