TENDRING AND CLACTON RALLY JOINS BRC
Popular closed-road event added to six-round calendar for 2020
for the last couple of years.
“Most of the organising team have been involved organising all sorts of events and/or competing in internationals.
“So we have a lot of insight with the organising team but we also bring loads of people in from outside the team, so most of our safety car team are people who are involved with Wales Rally GB.
“The whole way we run the event where we don’t feel we’ve got enough internal experience we’ve contacted people from all over the country who we consider have got that experience and brought them into the team.”
Tendring and Clacton will be the third event of a six-round calendar which will take crews to six different countries in 2020.
The season will begin with the Cambrian Rally in Wales on February 8, before it will be followed up by the West Cork Rally in the Republic of Ireland on March 14-15. Tendring and Clacton is next on April 25-26 before a trip to Belgium on June 25-27 for the
Ypres Rally and the Ulster Rally in Northern Ireland on August 21-22. The season will once again end with the Galloway Hills Rally in Scotland on September 19.
One significant omission from next year’s calendar, though, is the Pirelli Rally which had been a mainstay of the BRC calendar for years but has been dropped (see sidebar).
“The announcement of the calendar shows our commitment to providing the best all round package for events for our competitors and spectators,” said Campbell.
“We have a mix of short, sharp one-day shootouts to longer, tougher international events.
“Our calendar allows competitors to compete on some iconic stages against some of the best drivers in the world, as we go head-to-head with the Irish Tarmac Championship on two occasions and also with the Belgian Championship – lifting the pace of everyone in the process.
“I am delighted to welcome the Rally Tendring and Clacton event onto the calendar for next year.
“The rally will be in its third year and will offer a brand-new challenge for our crews and bring the championship to a new geographical location – which is really important for us to grow the following and fanbase for the BRC.”
Other changes to the British Rally Championship for 2020 include the winner of the
Junior category receiving
€60,000 to put towards the Junior World Rally Championship.
In collaboration with WRC powerhouse M-sport and tyre manufacturer Pirelli, the prize has already been offered to the top Ford Fiesta driver in 2019 but, with the Junior category becoming a one-make Ford Fiesta R2T championship for 2020, all competitors will be eligible.
A new class, the BRC Academy Trophy, will also be launched next year and will be open to drivers under the age of 25 and will act as the first step onto the BRC ladder.
The winner of the class, which is open to front-wheel-drive R2 machines, will also win a fully subsidised drive on the Wales Rally GB National Rally in
2020 in a Ford Fiesta R2T run by EDSL Sport.