The Rallee Classicagh section of this weekends Rally Isle of Man, powered by Microgaming, has attracted an entry that is high on quality and should provide all the spectacular rear-wheel drive action that has made them the crowd favourites in recent years.
The event is the concluding round of the Water End Properties Historic Asphalt Cup and re-affirming the organisers intent to place Historic rallying at the very heart of Rally Isle of Man, the twenty one period cars will lead the field into competitive action and run first on the road throughout all three days of the event.
Omagh’s Ryan Barratt and local co-driver Paul McCann, the 2010 Historic Rally winners, head the entry in the ubiquitous Ford Escort MkII that dominates the top ten starters. They are unlikely to have it all their own way however, with six of the top seven Category 3 (Classic) drivers back for another tilt, along with the 2010 Category 2 (Post Historic) victor.
Leeds pilot Darren Moon was runner-up two years ago, and after a late drama to find a replacement co-driver for regular note-caller Graham Wild, will be aiming to go one better this time.
Will Onions completed the podium last time around and the Shrewsbury driver needs a good result after a quiet year by his own standards in a new car, second on the season-opening Mid Wales Stages his best result.
The local challenge is led by Connor Corkill, who has been concentrating on university studies rather than pedaling rally cars this year, but warmed up for this weekend with a comfortable two-wheel drive best on the local Pokerstars Rally in July.
Guy Wookcock is another top-flight driver who has turned to historic rallying in recent years and has a long knowledge of the testing Manx lanes…
…though few can out-do multiple former winner David Stokes on that score; David can recall using the Balladoole extended section to the Castletown stage back in the 1970’s! The MkI Escort man is tied for fourth in this years British Historic Championship along with island-based Derek Boyd, having taken a second consecutive Tour of Flanders victory just ten days ago.
Adrian Kermode, many times a former category winner on his home stages, heads the non-Escort’s in the glorious Porsche 911, with Rob Smith’s Vauxhall Chevette, Gary Edgington’s Singer Chamois, John Kirkpatrick’s Lotus Sunbeam and David Mylchreets MGB amongst those adding to the variety along with the Porsche of former Ulster Rally winner Boyd.
A little further down the start list are the twin visiting Japanese Mini Cooper S crews of Shinobu Kitani and Yoshinao Tscuchiya who are likely to attract much interest. Shinobu has competed on the event previously and had actually already shipped the car to the UK last year when the event was cancelled, so there is certainly some unfinished business. Yoshinao makes his debut on the island.
Rallee Classicagh tackles the entire route of the event, with the new made-for-spectators Douglas Promenade stage the highlight of Thursday, the extended Castletown tests the main draw on a long Friday and the now traditional finale on Saturday afternoon, the Classic stage with its run down the TT course to finish at the Grandstand.
In total crews will compete a 400 mile route, almost 180 of which are on the 26 special stages.
