Bumper entry ready to make rally history in October
Full, complete, chockablock... three words to describe the entry for October’s Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally.
Last time the Tobermory-based event ran, online entries sold out in under an hour.
In an effort to give everyone the best possible chance, Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally organisers elected to run a ballot system following a 48-hour entry window.
The result? More records, with the biggest entry in a decade as more than 200 crews put their names down for one of the 150 spaces available.
Clerk of the course Andy Jardine said: ‘Once again, we’re incredibly flattered to receive the kind of interest and commitment we’ve had from crews. We received 209 entries and then, after selecting a few, drew the majority of the remaining names out of a hat.
The crews that didn’t make the first 150 will go down on the reserves’ list. On behalf of the team, I would like to say a huge thank you to the rallying community.
‘The Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally has been away for a year due to Covid-19 and, in the sort of uncertain times we’ve been through in the last 12 months, we could take nothing for granted. We hoped people would still want to come up here for what we believe is the best rally in the world. I’m happy to say they’re coming in droves.’
For the first time in its history, the Mull event will count as a round of the British Rally Championship (BRC) meaning the competition is going to be tighter than ever during the event from October 7 to October 10.
Local heroes and former winners Paul MacKinnon, John MacCrone and Calum Duffy will be flying the Mull flag against BRC stars including Rhys Yates, Matt Edwards, Osian Pryce and Sam Moffett.
‘We’re delighted to welcome the British Rally Championship crews up here,’ said Andy Jardine. ‘It’s fantastic to see the Mull Rally running as a scoring round in a series which once rivalled the World Rally Championship itself in terms of popularity and competitiveness. We’re making history on Mull in October. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the competition plays out. Victory in this event means so much to so many people – and throwing a maximum BRC points score into the mix is only going to spice things up.
‘In six weeks we’ll all be on the island and getting ready for the start of the Beatson’s Building Supplies Mull Rally. It’s been two years since we last filled the island with rally fever and I can’t wait to see and hear the cars back in action.’
This year’s event includes 148 competitive miles across 17 stages split into three legs. Starting out of Tobermory at 7.30pm on Friday October 8, the crews go straight into the first of five stages before arriving into an overnight halt at Salen shortly after midnight.
An 11.20am re-start from Garmony is the precursor to eight more stages on Saturday afternoon, before a five-hour break and a final four-test loop ending with the classic run up Glen Aros and over the Lochs to a finish outside Tobermory just before 2am on Sunday.