Cristofaro to continue championship charge in Cumbria

Milford Haven’s Nick Cristofaro will head to Carlisle next weekend as he continues his British Rally Championship (BRC) season on the Pirelli International rally.

Cristofaro presently lies fifth in the BRC Formula 2 championship standings as well as second in the Fiesta Sporting Trophy after good results on the events so far in his TEG Sport-run Ford Fiesta ST which is supported by Pirelli, Genpower UK, Autoglym, Millers Oils, Nicky Grist and Cut In Edge. The Pirelli rally will also see the start of a new partnership, with Elite Remapping providing support to Cristofaro’s new Cristotec Remapping business.

"We had an accident on an event earlier in the year and the costs of fixing the car severely dented our rallying budget," commented Cristofaro. "Elite Remapping have kindly loaned me some equipment to enable me to set up Cristotec Remapping so hopefully the business will help me replenish the budget."

Since his last event Cristofaro has had his Fiesta's gearbox completely stripped and repaired after problems on the last event and his hopes are high that the car will have a troublefree run on the Pirelli.

"We were stuck in third gear for the final part of the last event which lost us a fair chunk of time. It’s another expense that we could do without but hopefully the problems are not sorted."

The rally starts on Friday evening with two stages in Kershope forest before a full days competition on Saturday in Kielder.

"It’s going to be a very challenging event, Kershope and Kielder are extremely tough places to compete but I am confident that I’ll be on the pace and I’m aiming to get another good haul of championship points."

Please visit www.nickcristofaro.co.uk for all the latest news and photos.

Image courtesy Simon Clarke

Becky ready for Pirelli rally challenge

KC Rally Team driver Becky Kirvan will resume her BRC Challenge championship campaign next weekend when she contests the Pirelli Challenge rally.

Becky, from Burton Pidsea, took third in class on the opening championship round in early April and after a day testing her KC, Princes Quay Shopping Centre, Bardahl Oils, Rally4Real, Songasport and Peart Auto Services-backed Ford Fiesta she is hoping for another good finish on the Carlisle-based event.

"I was pleased to get a solid finish on the opening championship round," said Becky. "It was my first event in the Fiesta so I spent the event learning the car and getting used to my new co-driver Kaz Watts. After a steady start we increased our pace on the afternoon stages as Kaz and I settled into a rhythm and I became more confident in the car."

"Since the event we’ve had some time testing in Wales to get more miles in the car and that went well so hopefully we can put that experience to use on the Pirelli and I'll be looking to up the pace a notch or two!."

The rally consists of six competitive stages in the famous rallying territory of Kielder forest which are sure to provide a stern test to the competitors and their machines.

"I competed in some parts of Kielder on my very first event in 2006 so I’ve got some knowledge of how tricky the stages can be. It will be a tough event but I’m confident we can get a good result."

Please visit www.beckykirvan.co.uk or www.facebook.com/beckykirvanrallying to keep up to date with all the latest news and photos from the KC Rally Team.

Images from BCCC Pikes Peak

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Wright wins class despite wheel drama

Bentham’s David Wright took a class victory on last weekend’s Somerset Stages rally despite a high-speed mechanical failure on the last stage.

Wright and co-driver Michael Wilkinson were hopeful of a good result after a disappointing retirement on their previous event and they made a fine start, lying in fourth place following the opening batch of four forest stages.

“Our times on the early stages were pleasing,” commented Wright. “We were close to the pace of the World Rally Cars and holding a decent position on the overall leaderboard.”

The rally moved to Porlock Hill for two stages on the tarmac of the toll road which runs up the hill. Despite being held up by another competitor Wright retained fourth place in his Proflex, Drenth, Kumho Tyres and Grove Hill Garage-backed GPM Mitsubishi Evo 9.

It was back to the forests for the final four stages, the first two of these went well for Wright and with two stages to go he was still in fourth. An overshoot on the ninth stage cost around 25 seconds dropping him to fifth. The final stage was only just over a mile long but it almost destroyed Wright’s rally.

“We were doing over 100mph and a bottom arm on the suspension broke, the wheel locked up and sent the car into a huge slide. We were extremely lucky not to have a big accident. Fortunately I caught the slide and kept the car on the road but we had to limp out of the stage.”

The last stage drama meant that Wright fell to eighth place overall but he still won his class. The result moves him up to ninth in the BTRDA championship standings with the next round being held in May at the Plains rally.

Image courtesy Simon Clarke

Harry happy with success on Somerset rally

Bangor on Dee's Harry Morgan got his rally season back on track on last weekend's Somerset Stages event when he claimed an excellent third in the RF1.0 class after ten challenging stages.

Driving his 1.0 litre Nissan Micra Morgan was keen to get a good result after a broken distributor forced him to retire from his last event. The event kicked off with the short Timberscombe stage near Minehead and Morgan was immediately on the pace, setting third fastest time in the class. Forest stages in Croydon, Chargot and Knowle followed and Morgan continued his good form to hold his third place.

"We got off to a good start, the stages were very dusty but there were some damp patches under the trees so we had to take care," said Morgan. "I kept it clean and tidy though and I was pleased to be setting times quicker than some of the crews in the bigger-engined classes."

The rally then headed to the Porlock Hill stage which presented Morgan with a new challenge as the surface was tarmac rather than the forest track he is used to. Despite his lack of experience Morgan set competitive times on both the Porlock tests. The event finished with four further forest stages and Morgan had a troublefree run to finish in third.

"Porlock was fantastic fun, I have never competed on tarmac before but I really enjoyed it and I definitely want to do some more tarmac rallying in the future. I'm delighted with the result, we needed a good finish after our disappointment on the previous event and we've managed to achieve that. Thanks to my co-driver James Ford who was spot on with the pacenotes all day and also to my Dad for servicing."

The result sees Morgan lie third in the RF1.0 class championship leaderboard and he is also second in the Rally First Junior Driver championship. He will continue his championship challenge on the Plain rally in May. Please visit www.harryrally.co.uk for all the latest news and pictures.

Image courtesy Simon Clarke