JUKES RETURNS TO ISLE OF MAN FOR POKERSTARS RALLY AS NEWBY GETS BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL OF IMPREZA

TEG Sport driver Arron Newby expects a battle on his return to the Manx stages for this weekend’s two-day Pokerstars Rally.

The Carnforth driver has been heavily involved in the TEG project to build and develop a Skoda-based car using Subaru running gear for most of this year, which has limited on-stage action but left him eager to return.

“I haven’t done a lot this year and haven’t been in the car for five months, so basically Friday night will be settling back in, trying to use my head, and then open it up on Saturday,” he said. “But I can’t wait to get back over there again!”

He won the event in 2013 and ’17 and has twice lifted the Manx Rally title, but maintains “it’ll be interesting to see where we can place ourselves again after being away from the island for two years”.

“Initially we wanted to do both the Jim Clark and the Pokerstars events, but with them both on the same weekend we opted for the island,” he added. “This event always gets a strong entry.”

Jamie Jukes, winner in 2018, leads the event away in a Spencer Sport Mitsubishi Mirage, with other leading opposition coming from

John Stone in his Ford

Fiesta RS WRC.

The local drivers have had few events to contest this year, but a solid finish for Stu Bainborough (Mitsubishi Lancer E6) would be enough to lift a first Manx Championship, with Welsh VW Golf co-driverturned-driver Dale Furniss his nearest challenger.

Crews will tackle seven stages across the south of the island covering 44.5 miles on Friday night, with a further nine tests over 61 miles on Saturday.