Multiple British National Rally Champion Marcus Dodd heads to Southern Ireland on 2nd September for the Killarney Forest Stages Rally, the penultimate round of the MSA National Gravel Rally Championship. It will be Dodd’s first ever attempt at the rally which is making its first appearance within the MSA backed series this year.
Eight brand new special stages lie in wait for the Flitewise.com, Pirelli Tyres, Sunoco Fuels and Sunseeker Powerboats backed driver from Poole in Dorset. Together with regular co-driver Andrew Bargery (Hove), the HPM Motorsport pairing head to Ireland knowing that a good result is crucial if they are to succeed in overtaking title rival Steve Perez in the race for the championship crown.
Dodd has clearly been the man in form over the past two events in the series. Maximum points were taken after a controlled drive on the Severn Valley National Rally in June. Marcus and Andrew followed that with an attacking start to July’s Swansea Bay National Rally where they comprehensively destroyed the opposition on the opening stage of the event and were then able to cruise to a comfortable victory in their Hyundai Accent WRC4.
Killarney is a completely new challenge for both Dodd and Perez, with neither driver having contested the rally before. The forest stages of Abbeyfeale and Newmarket may not be household names to rally fans like Kielder or Crychan, but Dodd is wary of the challenge posed by these completely new stages to him:
“I’m not sure what to expect is the honest answer” said Marcus before the event. “I’ve never been to the area before for a gravel rally so I can honestly say that the first we’ll know about the stages is when we watch the safety DVD beforehand. The good thing is that neither Steve (Perez) nor I have competed on the rally before so it is very much a level playing field in terms of us chasing for championship honours. All I know is that I need to keep Steve behind me and try to take another maximum points haul. Things have gone to plan for us recently so I’m very confident we can go there and put in another strong performance. The Bulldog Rally is still to come in October so the championship is a long way from over yet. Steve will be pushing hard for the win in Ireland but we’ll be driving with the championship in mind. I’m looking forward to trying a new rally so either way I’m sure it will be a very interesting day’s rallying for us all!”
Marcus will be joined on his Irish adventure by his father Harry Dodd. Dodd senior was on the fringe of a Top 20 finish on the Swansea Bay Rally before his retirement, so he’ll also be looking for a result on this new event to the calendar. It all adds up to being a very busy weekend for the HPM Motorsport team. A third Hyundai Accent WRC is also competing that weekend – but not in Ireland! BTRDA National Rally Championship front runner Peter Egerton and co-driver Paul Spooner will contest the Woodpecker Stages Rally in Shropshire on Saturday 1st September as they look to get their run of excellent results back on track after an accident on the Quinton Stages Rally in July.
