DAVID RICHARDS MAKES RALLY RETURN
Ms a chairman opens motor sport news championship
Motor Sports Association chairman and 1981 World Rally champion co-driver David Richards will compete in the opening round of the Motorsport News Circuit Rally Championship at Oulton Park in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
Richards, who took over at the sport’s UK governing body on January 1 this year, has made a number of key regulation changes in rallying, such as allowing seeding by class and promising an investigation into safety regulations in a bid to reduce the burden on grassroots competitors.
In his career he sat alongside Ari Vatanen for the 1981 title, and also co-drove for Tony Pond, Billy Coleman and Andy Dawson before going on to set-up Prodrive. He headed the Subaru WRC programme through the Mcrae years and went on to run the BAR F1 team and the WRC Promoter afterward.
Richards will navigate the ex-mads Ostberg Ford Fiesta of event sponsor Graham Coffey, who won the event in 2012 and 2013 in a Subaru.
“The idea of using race tracks at a time of year when they aren’t used for motor racing is a superb initiative and one that’s to be applauded,” said Richards.
“I’m sure it’s fantastic for not only competitors but for the spectators coming along as well.
“It’s such an obvious thing, to create a championship of single-venue events, and one wonders why it hasn’t been done before.
“It is making great use of a facility that would be dormant in the winter months, while also taking rally cars closer to the general public. It’s an opportunity to expose rallying to a broader audience.”
Richards hasn’t competed in a rally since the Colin Mcrae Stages in 2008, and before that since 2003. But he competed on similar events in his early days of competition.
“I did a number of singlevenue events in the early days,” said Richards.
“The one we used to go to every year was Loton Park in Shropshire. More recently I attended a similar event at Boconnoc House in Cornwall.
“I’ve done some vintage and regularity events like the Flying Scotsman with a close friend of mine, but I’m looking forward to Oulton Park.”