The 2006 rally season has so far been a major learning curve in the career of South Wales rally driver, Gareth Nutt. The 23yr old driver has moved up the ranks for this year, contesting the Silverstone Tyres Stars of the Future Rally Championship, which is a supporting series to the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship (BRC). Round three of the series, the Jim Clark - Stars of the Future Rally takes place on Saturday 8th July.
The opening round of the series was the Astra Stages back in April with the Pontypool driver claiming third place. However the second round was a different story a puncture forcing retirement.
Nutt will use Hankook tyres on the Jim Clark Rally, having previously used them when he contested the Peugeot Challenge last year, where he finished runner up in that series. He will also be partnered for the first time by Newport co-driver, Stuart Powell on the Kelso based rally.
The Jim Clark will be Gareth's first attempt at the rally and on a closed public road event, as the Jim Clark is the only event on the UK mainland to close public roads for the event to take place.
Nutt and Powell will contest the rally in the Vehiclesource.com Peugeot 106. The car has undergone a complete overhaul since its last appearance in the series and while Gareth has had little time to test the car he is feeling confident ahead of the rally.
"I am really looking forward to the rally and the challenge of competing on fast country closed roads is a completely new experience. I have only ever done single venue tarmac events prior to this. I hope the change to Hankook tyres will benefit us because when I used them last year in the Challenge I found them to be very puncture resistant. Having Stuart in the car should provide me with some confidence as he contested the BRC championship in 2004 and comes with vast experience of all surfaces."
The Welsh pair will start the rally from the Charterhall Service Park on Saturday morning, completing a total of 125km of special stages before reaching the Kelso town square finish at 16.30.
