TAYLOR: NEW BRC SPONSOR SECURES THIRD YEAR
The addition of a title sponsor means the immediate future of the British Rally Championship is secured, according to International Motor Sports Ltd’s chief Ben Taylor.
IMS – which promotes the series – took over for the 2016 season after the championship had a year’s hiatus in 2015 while it was reformatted.
The championship was built again from scratch for the 2016 season and Taylor believes the addition of Prestone – an antifreeze and coolant company – makes the championship more financially sustainable.
“If we’re being flippant about it, it means year three [2018] looks more likely,” said IMS managing director Taylor.
“The MSA were really clear that the BRC isn’t a money making exercise, but they were also equally clear that this is not a loss making exercise. They can’t afford to underwrite a championship. I have to get to breakeven this year.
“The good news with the sponsor is that it takes away some of those financial worries from last year when we lost a lot of money, I like to call it investing, because we had to get year one [2016] up and running.
“I think it’s a good endorsement of what we delivered last year, that now there’s a brand that’s never done sponsorship before, that has looked at the proposal and has recognised that there is something here.”