JIM CLARK OUT FOR 2017
The Jim Clark Rally will not run this year after failing to gain a permit from the sport’s governing body amid an investigation into three deaths on the event in 2014.
The initial investigation by the Scottish Government ruled that no further action would be taken against the organisers.
However, a Fatal Accident Inquiry was then set up and until that is concluded the Motor Sports Association won’t give the event a permit to run.
An MSA spokesperson said: “Everyone is unfortunately well aware that on the 2014 Jim Clark Rally three people tragically lost their lives in an incident that will now be subject to a Fatal Accident Inquiry (FAI) this summer.
“The rally has not run in the two years since then and with the counsel of the MSA’S advisers we are not in a position to sanction it this year.
“Like the rest of the rallying community, the MSA will have to wait some time for the FAI outcome, but once that is known we will of course be entering into discussion with the Jim Clark Rally organisers.”
Dan Wright – Jim Clark Rally chairman – said that the organisers of the rally weren’t consulted in the decision.
“In any other workplace or sporting endeavour, routine carries on while FAIS are underway, so we don’t understand the insurer’s reasoning [of advising the MSA not to give the event a permit] behind this decision,” said Wright.
“They [the MSA] may well have consulted extensively with their insurance partners, but the rally organisers were not consulted.”