Woodside finally reveals car plans as he steps into an R5 for BRC Mid Wales

Robert Woodside will make his R5 debut in a Ford Fiesta after putting a late deal together to enter the British Rally Championship.

Woodside says he will tackle the first two rounds of the BRC with more possibly on the cards. He put in an entry for Mid Wales before the February 20 cut-off point, despite not having a deal complete.

The last-minute agreement was finalised on Monday and has been made possible with the support of Karcher UK and its Northern Ireland main dealer, Craigmore Online. Woodside drove a Karcherbacked Porsche R-GT on last year’s Circuit of Ireland Rally.

“It’s fantastic that we’ve been able to carry our association with Karcher over from last year when we drove the Tuthill Porsche 911 R-GT,” said Woodside.

“We have been working on a deal behind the scenes since last year.

“I’m looking forward to getting back to the British Rally Championship; the last time I did a round was 2002. We’ve been targeting a comeback ever since it was announced last year that the championship was returning.

“It boasts proper Wrc-quality stages and rallies that I competed on in my youth.”

The R5 Fiesta will be prepared by Dom Buckley Motorsport, with Allan Harryman on the notes.

Although Woodside admits there will be little time to tweak the Ford to his liking, he doesn’t feel it will pose much of a problem come the start of the gravel event.

“Dom Buckley has a wealth of experience – he operates such a strong team,” he said. “Alastair Fisher’s third-place finish on the Galway International Rally once again proved that Dom can put a competitive package together.”