Tyre giant Hankook is renewing its links with leading rally driver Stuart Jones to contest the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge – the IRC - in Switzerland this month.

The Hankook MG Super 2000 will be out in action on the Rallye International du Valais – with the team eagerly looking forward to the challenge ahead.

The three day event gets underway from the rally’s base in Martigny on Thursday October 23 with the crews tackling more than 260km of competitive stage miles.

“We worked with Stuart and the team from SJR in the British Rally Championship and we are delighted to be renewing our partnership for such an exciting event,’’ said Hankook motorsport manager Mike Patterson.

“We have been developing tyres specifically for the S2000 cars and Valais will provide the perfect opportunity to test these in some tricky conditions and against some of the best rally competition around.’’

Mike said the temperatures ranging from -5 degrees and wet, slippy roads in the mornings through to high teens and sunshine in the afternoon will give the tyres a thorough testing and SJR is set to be taking a wide selection of tyres to cater for the diverse conditions expected.

“This is the most important rally of the season for us,’’ said Stuart who will once again be co-driven by Andy Bull. “We plan to contest the whole IRC next year and this will give us a really good insight into the championship, and how the new Hankook tyres perform.’’

Stuart said the nature of the event with twisty roads and lots of hairpins will suit the MG and his driving style perfectly. “The MG has a great chassis which we hope to really demonstrate in Switzerland, I really enjoy the precise driving needed on such an event and we know from experience that the Hankook tyres are great performers so we are looking to have a successful team out on the Valais.’’

Work is currently underway at SJR to fully prepare the Lico/Hankook MG for action in Switzerland.