M-SPORT’S EVANS AND TANAK TO RALLY DAY
Duo to thrill crowd sat castle comb e-based event
M-sport drivers Ott Tanak and Elfyn Evans have joined a growing list of World Rally Championship personalities attending Rally day.
Tanak and Evans were confirmed this week and will join Toyota Gazoo Racing’s Jari-matti Latvala and 1984 world champion Stig Blomqvist at the Castle Combe event on September 23.
The M-sport World Rally Team pair are just part of the Cumbrian squad’s major commitment to Rallyday. That commitment will include a Ford Fiesta R5 for the Rally Germany winner and his Welsh colleague to enjoy at the Wiltshire track.
M-sport managing director Malcolm Wilson is also hoping to attend Rallyday. He told MN: “We’ve watched this event grow year on year and it’s now a firm fixture for us. The timing for Rallyday is perfect this year with there being no world championship event in September – we’re rally fans like the rest of you, and a month away from running and watching rally cars is a long time!
“As well as Elfyn, Ott and the cars, we’re bringing plenty of other interesting things along, which is why I’m keen not to miss it myself. It’s a great opportunity to get out and catch up with old friends without the pressure of a regular WRC weekend.”
Evans agreed with his team principal, adding: “There’s always some great cars at this event, cars with plenty of history and pedigree – I’ve even seen a [Ford] Sierra Cosworth driven by Gwyndaf Evans there in the past!”
Tanak’s only concern about the day was rubber-based, he said: “I just hope there are enough tyres; this is the sort of event where it’s a lot of fun to do some big drifts and a lot of skids – that’s what people are coming to Rallyday to see.”
As well as stars and cars, M-sport brings a merchandise stand and also has some of the exciting MS-RT vehicles from the road technology division of the Cockermouth firm on display.
The 10th anniversary of Colin Mcrae’s death will be remembered on the day with plenty of the cars the 1995 world champion drove through his career and a display of six Series Mcrae road cars.
Mcrae’s co-driver Nicky Grist will also star at the show with plenty of stories from the 84 world championship starts he made alongside the Scot.
Rallyday’s Tom Davis told MN: “We’ve got so much going on. It’s always fantastic to have guys like Jari-matti [Latvala], Stig [Blomqvist] and Harri Toivonen coming, but M-sport’s presence is really the icing on the cake. Elfyn’s [Evans] a real favourite at Rallyday and it’s the same with Ott [Tanak] now. Having the guy who won the last round of the world championship along before this break will give us plenty to talk about between watching these guys driving the cars.”