Stourbridge’s Richard Sykes will finally start his rally season next weekend when he contests the Pirelli Carlisle RB Foundation rally which, after Rally North Wales was cancelled, is the opening round of the British Rally Championship (BRC). Sykes will compete in the BRC Challenge category and, having won the championship in 2012 and finished second in 2013, he’s aiming to get his title campaign off to a flying start on the Carlisle-based event.
He will again use
his Citroën C2 which will be supported by Bathams Brewery and G.I.Sykes Ltd.
The car has undergone a major rebuild over the winter with extensive work being
undertaken to develop the engine.
“M-Sport have
developed the Fiesta R200 rally car making it into a 200 bhp racer, so we
decided to do the same thing with my C2,” said Sykes. “We have built a
completely different engine for the car, changing the cams, pistons, rods,
induction system, flywheel and ECU. We’re hoping for 200 bhp but we may
have to go through a little bit of development first which isn’t always nice
but, fingers crossed, we’ll have a good run on the Pirelli.”
Emma Morrison will
be in the co-driver’s seat of the Citroën. Morrison stood in for Sykes’ usual
co-driver Simon Taylor at the end of last season following an injury sustained
in a crash on the Ulster Challenge rally. With Taylor taking a sabbatical to
get married, Morrison will continue her role this year.
“I have been racing
with or against Emma for the last five seasons and she did a great job in the
car last year. She was our first choice to take over from Simon. She is
very experienced, excellent in and out of the car and, combined with her
superior organising skills, make her an ideal co-driver. We are looking forward
to the year ahead.”
“We are staying true
to the BRC and again competing in the BRC Challenge class of the championship
which suits us really well. Having won the championship in 2012 and
finished runner up last year we are looking for another win this year.”
“The cancelation of
Rally North Wales was a real blow and it delayed our championship start, we are
gagging to go racing now and can’t wait to start.”
The rally starts on
Saturday morning from Carlisle with the Challenge crews battling over six
stages totalling 55 miles in and around Kielder forest.
Action shot courtesy raceandrally.co.uk
Action shot courtesy raceandrally.co.uk
