Wright claims podium finish on new car debut

Bentham’s David Wright enjoyed a successful debut event in his new GPM-prepared Mitsubishi Evo 9 when he took third place overall on the Malcolm Wilson rally in Cumbria last Saturday (7th March).

Despite only driving the car briefly at a test session before the rally Wright and co-driver Michael Wilkinson were immediately on the pace on the opening Hobcarton stage setting 4th fastest time.

“I was pleased to be on the pace with the new car. We had a test in Stang forest before the rally to get things set up properly and the work paid off,” said Wright.

“As well as the new car I’d to get used to a new co-driver for the event so that made the time even more pleasing”.

Quick times on the Comb and Wythop stages saw Wright and Wilkinson up to third overall as the rally headed to Greystoke forest near Penrith. The Greystoke stage proved unlucky as the car picked up a puncture which lost the crew over 40 seconds to the leaders, dropping them to 9th place.

Two stages in Grizedale followed with Wright flying through the forest and setting two second fastest times to jump back up to third place, a position which was consolidated on the final Greystoke stage.

“The puncture was disappointing, without the time loss we would’ve finished second overall and got maximum points as the rally winner Steve Perez was not registered.”

“However, I enjoyed the event and the car was fantastic. Thanks to GPM for preparing the car and to Grove Hill Garage and Kumho Tyres for their support. We’re going to make a few refinements to the car over the next few weeks and then hopefully we’ll be out again on the Somerset Stages in April.”

The Malcolm Wilson rally was the second round of the BTRDA rally championship. Wright currently stands in fourth place in the championship.

By Songasport

Higgins launches BHRC campaign

Former British Rally Champion David Higgins has announced plans to contest the Dunlop/Gambia MSA British Historic Rally Championship in a Ford Escort, starting with the Bulldog Historic Rally on 28 March.

Higgins plans to contest six of the season’s eight events, but will miss the Severn Valley Stages in May and the Tour of Flanders in September due to clashes with his programme in China with a Group N Mitsubishi.

The 2004 British Rally champion will compete in a car from Mark Solloway’s Historic Rallysport concern and will tackle the Bulldog in a Mk1 Escort.

“I’ve got 95% of the budget we need and Mark produces a fantastic car, so I gave him a ring to see if he was up for it,” said Higgins. He will be joined on the Bulldog by his 2008 team mate Hugh Evans, who will contest at least the season opener in one of Solloway’s Mk2 Escorts.

“I’m really excited about it,” said Higgins as he looked forward to the Welsh event. “The competition in historics is very strong and the cars are brilliant fun to drive. You get such a buzz out of driving these cars.”

By Paul Lawrence
Image courtesy Songasport

Cookson and Wilkinson get top ten finish on Rallye Sunseeker

Saltash driver Alan Cookson and London co-driver Julian Wilkinson got off to the best possible start to the season as they finished in the top 10 on this weekend’s Rallye Sunseeker (27 – 28 February).

The crew came home 10th overall and second in class four in their Robert Wiseman Dairies, Kick Energy, GillettsSpar.com, Riverside Property Services, SPAR and Olverelectrical.com supported Subaru Impreza World Rally Car (WRC) on the Bournemouth-based gravel event.

It was the opening round of the 2009 Pirelli MSA Gravel Rally Championship for Cookson and Wilkinson and they clinched an all-important 16 points as they claimed a result on the rally for the first time on their third attempt.

They consistently posted times inside the top 13 throughout the event and enjoyed a close battle with the Mitsubishi WRC Evo of Charlie Payne and Craig Thorley for position.

There were concerns on the first loop of stages on Saturday morning when the car was pulling from left to right and the pair thought it was a serious suspension problem. It turned out to be a tyre issue when the team realised the car had been fitted with a wrong sized tyre. They also had an engine that seemed to be down on power in the morning, but the fitting of some different plugs at service by the TEG Sport Team cured the problem.

The rest of the event ran relatively trouble-free. They picked up a puncture just before the start of stage 11 but after noticing it, promptly changed the tyre so it caused them no woe.

They set a fine pace on the final stage as they were seventh quickest on the Hoare Banks 2 test, their fastest time of the event.

“I’m delighted. It’s third time lucky and to get in the top ten I’m absolutely over the moon,” Cookson said.

“It was lucky that I noticed that puncture before the 10 mile 11th test or it could have been a lot different, but this result is a great start to our season and one that is not bad for a 12-year-old car.

“The car felt great all afternoon and we set some competitive times against what was a very strong field, but most of all it’s good to finally put the misfortune of the past behind us. After not finishing the last two years, you would have thought we had won the rally when we crossed the finish line on stage 13 it meant that much to both Julian and I to finally finish our local event.

“I have a few SPAR stores in the Bournemouth and Dorset area and it was good to see some of the staff out supporting us and to give them a good result was the icing on the cake.”

Cookson and Wilkinson will next be in action on the Border Counties Rally based in Jedburgh in just under three weeks time where they hope to capitalise on their best start to a season in three years.

By Amanda Cornforth
Image courtesy Simon Clarkr

Shelley set for battle in the Lakes

Shelley Rogerson, 23, will be back out on the rally stages next Saturday (7th March) when she contests the Malcolm Wilson rally in Cumbria, the second round of the BTRDA championship. Shelley, from Lancaster, will partner Andrew Burton in his Peugeot Cosworth. It is the first time the crowd-pleasing Peugeot has been entered the event although Andrew has taken part previously in his old Alfa Ferrari car.

The pairing head to the Lake District in the lead of the BTRDA championship after scoring maximum points on the opening round, February’s Wyedean Forest rally.

“The Malcolm Wilson rally is my local event, I’m hoping we will get a decent finish and maintain our championship lead,” said Shelley.

“The rally has attracted a top quality entry, there seems to be more World Rally cars on the entry list than on a world championship round! It’s certainly going to be close at the top of the leaderboard, there are several crews who could take victory.

“It’s a few years since Andrew competed in Cumbria so it will be interesting to see how he goes, hopefully we will be competitive.”

Shelley, who is backed by Co-ordSport, Legend Fires, Gilletts Spar, Nicky Grist and Songasport, is planning on doing most rounds of the BTRDA championship in 2009 as well as selected rounds of the ANCRO championship. To keep up to date with her rallying please visit www.shelleyrally.com.

By Songasport

Wright to debut new car on Malcolm Wilson rally

Bentham’s David Wright will debut a brand new Mitsubishi Evo 9 on next Saturday’s Malcolm Wilson rally. The car, which has been prepared by Giles Philips Motorsport, features a more powerful engine and is lighter than the car Wright used on the recent Wyedean Forest rally, where he finished 16th after a few spins in the snowy conditions.

Wright has a good record on the Cumbrian event, having finished 5th in both 2007 and 2008, and he is aiming for another decent finish on Saturday.

“The new car should be a bit quicker than the old one and it’s certainly faster than the car we finished 5th in last year so hopefully we’ll get a good result, although it’s going to be very competitive with a lot of World Rally cars doing the event as well as the Peugeot Cosworth,” said Wright.

“As well as the new car I’ve got a new co-driver for the event, Michael Wilkinson, so the first couple of stages should be interesting as I get used to everything. We’re going to test the car before the rally so at least I’ll have a bit of mileage in it before the first rally stage. I’d like to thank Grove Hill Garage and Kumho Tyres for their support”.

The rally is the second round of the BTRDA championship and it starts in Cockermouth before the crews head out for seven competitive stages in the Lake District forests. For further information on the event please visit www.malcolmwilson.co.uk.

By Songasport