Round five of the Water End Properties Gravel Cup will run on the Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Historic Rally on Saturday (16 July). Although not a full round of the Dunlop/WONAGO MSA British Historic Rally Championship, the event will be contested by crews chasing the gravel element of the BHRC. Following the opening four gravel rounds of the BHRC, the Gravel Cup continues on the Swansea Bay and then concludes with the McRae Stages on 1 October.Heading the field away on Saturday morning will be reigning Gravel Cup champion Nick Elliott, partnered by Chris Brooks in his Ford Escort Mk2. With six stages in the Rheola, Resolven and Walters Arena complexes ahead, Elliott’s main rival will be the Escort Mk2 of Will Onions/Dave Williams. Elliott is clearly the man to set the pace, but Onions is pushing hard to close the gap and a victory last time out on the Severn Valley Rally was a great result for Onions. Other leading class D5 cars include the Escorts of Richard Lane/Frank Richer, Jonathan Brace/Tim Samuel and James Potter/Bob Duck. In class D3, for the Pinto-engined cars, Shawn Rayner/Declan Dear will go head to head with Polly Patti/Chris Dewsnap and Wayne Bonser/Richard Aston.David Stokes and Guy Weaver are first on the road in category two in their Ford Escort Mk1 and should take a straightforward victory if the car runs strongly. Their category opponents include Jeremy Wells/Ken Bowman (Escort Mk1) and class C3 contenders Peter Egerton/Alun Cook and Mark Holmes/Tony Lindsay.A slim category one field includes the flying Volvo Amazon of Graham Waite/Gill Cotton and the Porsche 911 of Rikki Proffitt/Phill Harrison. Proffitt currently leads the overall BHRC title race after a fabulous opening half of the season, while Waite is always spectacular on gravel with the mighty Volvo.The Pro-Art Signs Swansea Bay Historic Rally is organised by Port Talbot Motor Club. For more details about the event, please visit the website at: swanseabayrally.com