will decide the outcome of the Rally of Scotland
Scotland hosts 11th and final round of the Eurosport-televised Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC)
The first running of the RACMSA Rally of Scotland – Thursday 19th to Saturday 21st November - is expected to be dominated by current and former rally champions from three Nations within the British Isles.
First away from Ceremonial Start and immediately into the first of two timed special stages in the grounds of Perth’s Scone Palace will be event favourite and newly-crowned IRC Champions Kris Meeke (Northern Ireland) and Paul Nagle (Ireland), driving a Peugeot-UK liveried 207 Super 2000.
Number two seeds are Guy Wilks (County Durham) and Phil Pugh (39, Towyn, Wales), British Champions in 2007 and 2008 competing for the first time in a Skoda Fabia entered by Skoda UK.
The 2009 British Champions, Keith Cronin and Greg Shinnors, both from Ireland, carry Number 3 on the Italian-prepared Fiat Abarth Punto, which they are driving for the first time.
For Bristol’s Adam Gould and Sebastian Marshall (21, North Yorkshire), Christmas has come early with the present of an all-expenses paid drive in the BFGoodrich and Kronos Racing entered Peugeot 207. The 22 year old was selected by a panel of motorsport journalists to be teamed with Kris Meeke on Scotland’s IRC finale.
Scotland’s bid for overall success comes from 22 year old David Bogie (Dumfries) and Kevin Rae (Hawick), the 2009 Hankook MSA Scottish Rally Champions and 1995 British Champion, Alister McRae from Lanark, who now lives in Australia.
Meeke (30) is set on winning his fifth IRC round in 2009 to establish a new record for victories in a single season of the 11 round series.
Wilks (28) will test his Skoda Fabia for the first time on Monday 16th November. The Czech-based Skoda team have won three of the previous 10 IRC rounds, in Russia, the Czech Republic and Spain.
Cronin (23) from County Cork – the eldest in a family of 10 children - swaps his championship-winning Mitsubishi Lancer for the model of car which won Rally Azores in May.
Bogie is expected to show his talents on Friday’s group of five special stages in Perthshire. He last drove them competitively on October’s McRae Stages Rally, when he finished ninth overall and secured his first Championship title.
Alister McRae (38) is participating in an International Rally in China over the weekend of 14th and 15th November on his 10,000 mile return journey to Scotland. On these two events he will be navigated by Bill Hayes, from Perth, Western Australia. He is driving a Proton Satria, similar to the one used by Guy Wilks on six previous rounds of the 2009 IRC.
The International category of the Rally of Scotland has attracted 34 teams, representing 10 Nations, with a further six in the Landrover Challenge Rally. A further 24 entries have been received for Saturday’s one day national rally.
To keep up to date with news and information about the Rally of Scotland, visit rallyofscotland.com. Tickets are available now and can be purchased by calling 0844 847 2488. Please note, tickets purchased online or via the telephone hotline will now need to be collected in person from the event ticket office in Stirling Service Park.
