MSA British Rally Championship Round Three Preview Jim Clark International Rally – 22nd & 23rd May 2009

David Bogie looks forward to first tarmac event of the seasonSuccessful asphalt test sees Evo X development continue to move forwardTeam hopeful of a repeat podium finish

This weekend sees another first for the JR Motorsports Rally Team, when they head across the border and into Scotland for the Jim Clark International Rally and the British Rally Championship’s inaugural asphalt event for their Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X.

Following an impressive third-place finish on round two, the Pirelli Rally, the team are confident that the development of the new car is headed in the right direction and aim to capitalise on the performance achieved last time out. Since then, driver David Bogie has tested the car on tarmac for the first time and was delighted with the outcome:

“Following the Pirelli Rally we knew that the car was getting close to being on the leading pace on gravel. Its turn-in and grip out of corners is excellent, so when the team changed the car to a tarmac set up, the handling was excellent right from the start and we only needed to make a few adjustments to get it 100%.”

David continues: “With this being my first event for the team on anything other than gravel, it is difficult to tell how competitive we will be this weekend. But if the car goes as well as it felt during the test, then another podium finish could well be on the cards.”

Currently leading the British Rally Championship Team’s category, as Team JRM Lico, JR Motorsports will only field the one car this weekend and therefore will aim to grasp as many points as possible in order to keep their team’s title hopes on track.

The Jim Clark Rally is still the only event of its kind on the UK mainland to utilise closed public roads. This year’s event gets underway with a ceremonial start at 7.00 pm from Fountain Park in Edinburgh and features six stages that evening - including two through Duns town centre - before the overnight halt in Kelso.

Saturday sees a further 11 stages around the Berwickshire lanes and a repeat of the run through Duns, the combination of the two legs providing a total competitive distance of 146 miles.

JR Motorsports’ 2009 British Rally Championship campaign is supported by: Oakbank Services, Exe-tc competition suspension, Lico, Opie Oils, PPG Transmissions and SJS Designs.

British Rally Championship positions after round two

Drivers1 Keith Cronin 40 Pts2 Mark Higgins 36 Pts3 David Bogie 30 Pts4 Dave Weston Jnr 26 Pts5 Alistair Fisher 27 Pts6 Jonny Greer 25 Pts7 Craig Breen 19 Pts8 Chris Firth 18 Pts9 Stuart Jones 16 Pts10 Adam Gould 15 Pts10 Martin McCormack 15 Pts12 Daniel Sigurdarson 12 Pts

TeamsJRM Lico 67 PtsTEG Sport Pirelli 56 PtsRevolution Wheels 15 Pts