New twists added to Welsh race
While many of the forest stage venues are familiar, there is a new twist to WRC Wales Rally GB this weekend.
The Welsh event begins a three rally run to the end of the season with tight battles being waged in both Driver’s and Manufacturers’ Championships.
The new aspect to Wales Rally GB has come about through new legislation in Great Britain that allows public roads to be closed for motorsport. The organisers have taken advantage of this to link together some traditional forest stages which short sections of tarmac to create some longer stages and new spectator opportunities.
That change is also evident in the rally’s new signature stage which combines the narrow tarmac road around the Great Orme headland with a section of closed streets in the town of Llandudno.
The rally started earlier this morning (NZ time) with crews touring from the Deeside service park to a new super special stage at the Tir Prince harness raceway.
The Friday itinerary loops twice through the Clocanoeg, Brenig Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon and co-driver Sebastian Marshall in action at Wales Rally GB last year. and Penmachno forest stages in North Wales with two runs in the first loop at the Slate Mountain adventure park where a 1.69km stage has been created.
On Saturday the rally is based further south around a remote service zone at Newton and includes the Myherin, Sweet Lamb-Hafren, Dyfi and Gartheiniog stages. Nearly 50 per cent of the competitive distance of the event (150km of the 318km) is included in the Saturday route which is a demanding day with crews on the road from 5.30am and due back at the Deeside service park just before 8pm.
A short 55km sprint on Sunday with five stages includes the 14.70km Gwydir Power Stage and two runs through the 8.03km Great Orme Llandudno stage.
The line-up for the British round is trimmed to 11 cars in the WRC category with Citroen filing only two entries for Mads Ostberg (Norway) and Craig Breen (Ireland). New Zealander Hayden Paddon gets his sixth WRC outing of the year alongside Hyundai teammates Thierry Neuville (Belgium) and Andreas Mikkelsen (Norway) while it’s the usual trios for Toyota — championship leader Ott Tanak (Estonia) and Finns JariMatti Latvala and Esapekka Lappi — and the M-Sport Ford squad with world champion Sebastien Ogier (France), 2017 Wales Rally GB winner Elfyn Evans (GB) and Timo Suninen (Finland).
It’s a vital rally for the Hyundai team after losing the lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship following Toyota’s 1-2 result in Turkey last month. Toyota Gazoo Racing now leads with 284 points from Hyundai Motorsport on 279 and M-Sport Ford with 244 points.
In the Driver’s championship Neuville is under mounting pressure from the resurgent Tanak after three consecutive wins for the Estonian driver in Finland, Germany and Turkey. Neuville leads with 177 points from Tanak on 164 while Ogier is on 154.
Following this weekend’s action in Wales the two remaining championship rounds are Rallye Catalunya in Spain (October 25-28) and the Coffs Harbour-based Rally Australia from November 15-18.