The
National Forest Rally Championship returns to South Wales on Saturday.
Port Talbot Motor Club will extend a warm
welcome to competitors and spectators as the top National Forest Rally
Championship returns to the City of Swansea for the Pro Art Signs Swansea Bay
Rally, incorporating the Pro Art Signs Swansea Bay Clubmans Rally & the Pro
Art Swansea Bay Yokohama Challenge.
The local motor club is pleased to welcome
Mr Darren Williams as co-sponsor to the event. His graphics & design
company Pro Art was formerly the title sponsor of the Red Dragon Rally and he
is keen to follow on from his association with that Port Talbot Motor Club
event by providing additional support for the Swansea Bay Rally.
The event continues its long and successful
association with the premier National Rally Championship in the country, and
The City & County of Swansea, with the remarkable double achievement of
maintaining those successes for 36 and 30 years respectively.
For 2009 the rally HQ stays at the Village
Hotel on the
SA1 complex with the ceremonial start & finish at the Hotel,
ensuring high profile and quality
locations for the event and all associated with the sixth round of the 2009
Pirelli Tyres MSA National Gravel Rally Championship as well as a qualifying
round of the
Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge UK.
The Swansea Bay Clubmans event is a round of UKRallying.com MSA Welsh
National Rally Championship, the ANWCC Forest Rally Championship,
and the Munden's Minibuses ASWMC Loose
Surface Rally Championship, and the Swansea Bay Yokohama Challenge Rally is a
round of the BMW Rear Wheel Drive Challenge, and the Peugeot 2051.6 & 1.4
Challenges.
Historically the event has
always run long stages, but for 2009 the organisers have adopted a new format
for the rally, introducing shorter stages that will run twice, a combination
which proved popular with competitors on the Red Dragon Rally in 2008, and one
that will provide a fresh approach and challenge for drivers and co-drivers on saturday,
on what are recognised as some of the best forest roads in the country, the
stages in the Neath & Afan Vales used for many years in the FIA World Rally
Championship.
With such quality special
stages near to a superb rally base in the City of Swansea with its myriad
attractions of nightlife, culture and scenic location right alongside the
countries first designated Area of Natural Beauty in Gower, Port Talbot Motor
Club and the City of Swansea provides a warm Welsh welcome that will not
disappoint in any respect.
The top drivers and cars include :
Marcus Dodd
Andrew
Bargery
Hyundai Accent WRC
Steve Perez
Paul
Spooner
Ford Focus WRC
Roger Duckworth
Mark
Broomfield
Subaru Impreza WRC
Michael O'Brien
TBA
Ford Focus
WRC
Daniel Barry
Martin Brady
Mitsubishi
Lancer
Nik Elsmore
Craig
Drew
Mitsubishi Evo9
John Lloyd
Pauline Gullick
Ford
Focus WRC
Pete Eggerton
Jamie Edwards
Hyundai Accent WRC
David Meredith
Karen Watts
Mitsubishi
Evo 9
Martyn England
Ian England
Mitsubishi
Evo
After five rounds of the eight in the Pirelli MSA National
Gravel Rally Championship - the last being the Severn Valley Stages - the
Mitsubishi of Irish crew Daniel Barry / Martin Brady lead the series by two and
three points respectively from Dodd/Bargery, the Irishmen also leading the
Production Cup, the category dominated by Mitsubishi Evo machinery, and 22 year
old Barry in first place in the Junior Drivers Championship.
Spectators are welcome at the start of the rally in
Swansea SA1, adjacent to the Village Hotel Rally HQ ( though no car parking for
Spectators is possible within the hotel grounds) and at the Finish of the
rally, also in the SA1 Dockland location, adjacent to the former Norwegian
Church west of the Village Hotel.
The rally incorporates a number of individual events and the
groups of cars will run in the following order : Yokohama Championship cars
will start the rally first, followed thirty minutes later by the combined field
of National and Clubman entrants, with
two wheel drive cars in these series first on the road. A further ten minute gap will separate the
four wheel drive cars from two wheel drive.
The parking charge at designated Spectator Stages will be £10.00 per car which
includes a spectator Programme. That admission and programme will permit
parking at other Spectator locations free of charge.
Spectator Stage locations are :
Special Stages 1 and 4
Rheola Forest via the Spectator entrance at OS map reference 170/814023.
On SS1 the first car in the Yokohama
field arrives at 09.38. The National and
Clubman cars from 10.30.
On SS4 the first car in the Yokohama field will be at 12.55 and National
and Clubman at 13.55
Special Stages 2 and 5 Walters Arena via the Spectator entrance at OS map
reference 160/870094.
On SS2 the first car in the Yokohama field arrives at 10.09, and National and Clubman at 11.09.
On SS5 the first car in the
Yokohama field will be at 13.27, and National and Clubman at 14.27.
Special Stages 4 and 6 Rhondda Forest via the Spectator Entrance at OS map
reference 170/922025.
On SS4 the first car in the Yokohama field arrives at 11.15 , and National
and Clubman 12.15.
On Special Stage 8 - Rhondda Forest 2 - National cars ONLY
will traverse the stage from 15.55.
Please note that there are NO SPECTATOR
ACCESS POINTS in Resolven.
For additional updates on the Pro-Art Signs Swansea
Bay National Rally please visit swanseabayrally.com
For additional updates on the Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay National Rally please visit swanseabayrally.com and for more information on the ANCRO organized Pirelli MSA National Forest Rally Championship 2009 see www.gravelrally.co.uk
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