Followers of This Is Rally will be more than aware how much a strong British Rally Championship means to me, and in truth I am most certainly not the only one who adores a strong domestic series in the UK.
After its sabbatical in 2015, the 2016 season was more hyped up a great deal, not least by myself with my constant tweets and feature pieces on here including an interview with championship manager Iain Campbell. However, the hype was certainly not misplaced, with four different manufacturers, three different winners, a more than solid range of car classes and international flavour all creating a fantastic season's rallying, ultimately dominated by one of the sport's most promising young drives Elfyn Evans who really is too good to not be consistently in the world scene. But the question is, where can the championship really go from here? Well firstly it will head to the Isle of Man in just under 2 weeks time, a classic event and a classic line-up. Newly crowned BRC Champion Elfyn Evans will take on former BRC driver and Circuit of Ireland winner Craig Breen in a DS3 R5, with triple BRC Champion and local man Mark Higgins joining Evans in a DMACK Fiesta. There were rumours of potentially Ostberg or Kevin Abbring coming along, but if anything this is even more mouthwatering. The ultimate master of all conditions in the British Championship, versus the rising star who claimed an emphatic podium on the fastest rally of them all: Rally Finland. Then there's the man that's been there, done it all and often won it all. A rallying hero of mine, Mark Higgins may not have driven competitively in a while but he can never ever be discounted, especially on his home turf. Here I go again with my comparisons to the BRC's past (but forgive me it was I grew up watching) but I think it's fascinating that Mark Higgins was battling Elfyn Evans' dad Gwyndaf all those years ago but now the two will face up for a showdown on one of the world's most difficult and unique rallies. The fight for second in the championship is also a hot one between a whole host of drivers. Tom Cave probably deserves a 2016 win and would have done so had he not been up against a WRC driver, whilst Fredrik Ahlin has been the strong international competitor the BRC needs. One man who has failed to make the impact I thought he would is David Bogie, although that has been a lot down to luck in a few cases but his performances show the jump a driver has to make jumping from a regional championship to one as big as the BRC. Now I'll tread carefully as I am the Scottish Rally Championship Press Officer and don't get me wrong I think the SRC is one of the best series around for its competitive nature and camaraderie, but Bogie's 2016 shows the difference between the SRC and BRC. Bogie was ultimately too good for the SRC, but the former British Champ has struggled this year with tougher opposition than he is used to and having to make his own pace notes again. He'll be back next year though make no mistake, and he is proof Scotland still produces great driving talent with Euan Thorburn, John MacCrone and Garry Pearson too looking promising.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
BRITISH RALLYINGArticles covering rally in Britain, looking at the MSA BRC Archives
September 2017
Categories |