BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIP REGULARS MIX WITH WORLD COMPETITION
The top two drivers in the British Rally Championship, Keith Cronin and Fredrik Ahlin, won’t tackle Wales Rally GB, but some of the BRC’S fastest gravel competitors in 2017 will be present in Wales.
Scot David Bogie, 2011 champion, won 10 of 22 loose surface stages he competed on this year, a table-topping win percentage of 45.45 per cent.
Local driver Tom Cave has a 100 per cent conversion rate after he switched to a Hyundai i20 R5, winning the four stages he managed before suspension troubles ruled him out of the Pirelli Carlisle and RSAC Scottish Rally. Whether that’s Cave pushing too hard or a brittle i20, he backed up the pace with an impressive WRC2 podium at Rally Finland.
The interesting entry comes from Bogie. He showed an improvement in 2016 after switching from a Ford Fiesta to a Skoda Fabia R5. Now he’s had two full seasons in the car, there’s no excuse there. Bogie needs to put a full event together without any mistakes. Only a perfect rally will be enough to challenge for the WRC2 win.
Matt Edwards took third in the BRC and while he’s won events on gravel and that’s his favoured surface, his pace has been poor on the surface at BRC level this year. A switch to the DMACK tyre, which works well in Wales, and the M-sport works team will prove if the gravel struggle was down to the Hankook tyres he was using in the BRC this year.
Rhys Yates, who performed well on his overseas WRC debut in Spain earlier this month, and James Slaughter, will also be competing. Both will be looking for increased experience on the difficult stages rather than a class win.