Hot off the back of a win for the Simpson Motors rally team on Rally Trinidad, using the Suzuki SX4 built and run by MML Sports, the British company is embarking on one of the busiest months of motorsport since its inception in 2009. Five rallies over three weekends will see all available staff literally working around the world.
This weekend's win in Trinidad for Neil Armstrong in the Suzuki SX4 World Rally Car was the first outing of the season and got the year underway in the perfect fashion, for Armstrong, the Simpson team and of course, MML Sports.
After a string of stage wins, Armstrong and co-driver Barry Ward took the overall honours, the first of the season for the local team.
This coming weekend, 5/6 April, will see the first round of the French gravel rally championship and the first outing for local Cyrille Feraud in his Mitsubishi Lancer WRC. Having contested the championship several times in Group N, Cyrille is stepping up to a World Rally Car for the first time and will carry out a one-day test ahead of the rally start.
The following weekend, 12/13 April, will see the busiest for the MML Sports team. Firstly, it is the first round that the new Team Kibos car will contest in the FIA African Rally Championship, the SASOL Rally South Africa, using the brand new Safari-specification Mitsubishi Lancer EvolutionX, built by MML Sports.
The same weekend, the team will be in action again in the Caribbean, on the Warm Up Rally in Barbados, again with the Simpson Motors team and the Suzuki SX4. And finally, this weekend also sees the first round of the Belgian Rally Championship, the TAC Rally, which will see the reigning Dutch Rally Champion Bob de Jong back at the wheel of his MML Sports-supported Lancer WRC. This means the company will be running Suzuki and Mitsubishi World Rally Cars and a Mitsubishi Group N car over the same weekend, on three continents.
Two weeks later, the company will again be spread across two continents, at the Rallye de Wallonie in Belgium, again with de Jong and the Mombasa Rally, the fourth round of the Kenyan series and the first of the season for the new Group N EvoX for Team Kibos.
Commenting, MML Sports Managing Director John Easton said; "April is going to be a pretty hectic month for us this year but we're used to it and it's this kind of programme that brings the best out of everyone - it's what we have been used to all of our careers.
"It will be very interesting to see how Cyrille can go in the Lancer world car. We know he is quick and we also know that the Lancer is a fairly easy car to drive quickly, so I hope that we can expect a good debut from him on his home series.
"We're also really looking forward to getting back out to the Caribbean. Neil and the team had a fantastic result on the Trinidad Rally this weekend to start the season perfectly and I'm confident that we will be able to maintain that sort of performance when we get to Barbados.
"Of course, I am looking forward to seeing how Jasse can go in the brand-new Group N car we built for the African championship. I am confident that the car will be competitive and reliable, so he and the team will have all the tools they need to put in a really good performance.
"Bob, we know, is a very quick driver and consistent as well - you don't get to be the Dutch Rally Champion by being anything else and it's a very competitive field. I hope that he will be able to get a good result under his belt on the first round of the Belgian championship as he targets that series title this year."
