Irish ace Owen Murphy will mount a serious bid on the 2014 West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship in the Lotus Sunbeam he took to fifth place on the Roger Albert Clark Rally.The ex-Russell Brookes ‘Andrews Heat for Hire’ liveried car of UK-based Irishman John Leahy will tackle a full season as Murphy aims to take the fight to the Ford Escort Mk2s across the seven-event gravel championship.The Former Irish National Forest Champion, now 26, was a finalist in the 2004 Billy Coleman Young Rally Driver of the Year award when he was only 17. But now he wants to concentrate his 2014 season on competing in the Sunbeam Lotus. James O’Brien will co-drive on at least some of the events, subject to other commitments.“Owen’s main focus will be the R.A.C. Championship and we want to battle with the Escorts,” said Leahy, who is now specialising in Sunbeam Lotuses for rallying. “It went very well on the Roger Albert and their pace was very good, despite not having any local knowledge. I’m happy that the car is now a quality rally car,” said Leahy, who has drawn on the experience of Russell Brookes on car set-up. “We’re currently building up a spares package as we don’t want to miss a round.”The 2014 R.A.C. Rally Championship starts on the Red Kite Stages on Sunday 2 February and more details are available from www.redkitestages.co.ukThe West Wales Rally Spares R.A.C. Rally Championship is the only championship for historic cars that runs first on the road on all events.