Four teams fight for the top slot as they head for Scotland
The race to win the inaugural British Teams' Championship is starting to gain pace as the teams head for the third round of the Kwik-Fit Pirelli British Rally Championship, the RSAC Scottish International Rally, starting in Dumfries on Friday 11th June.
Each of the teams nominate their representative driver when the event entries close. For point scoring purposes the teams are split into three categories, Gp A covering World rally cars, Gp N for Production cars and S1600 for all other classes. With the first two rounds of the Championship completed, there are four teams vying for the top slot, all within two points of each other.
"The objective this year for this prestigious award, which carries the official British title, was to open it up to professional, non-manufacturer teams", confirmed Championship Manager, Mark Taylor. "With most manufacturers choosing to outsource their motor sport operations, it made sense to re-evaluate the Championship structure and allow top professional teams to promote their companies by competing at the highest level.
"All of the teams had an input in the conception of the Team Championship which we believe is a great starting point on which to build this competition for the future. We hope that in 2005 the British Teams' Championship will be strong enough to field 2 car teams with more talented drivers and co-drivers participating."
The Current Status of the British Teams Championship
British Teams' Championship standings following the International Rally of Wales are:
Posn Team Name Pirelli Wales Total1 VK Vodka Kick 20 18 382 M Sport 18 20 383 Team Gadgetshop 18 18 364 Promax Motorsport 16 20 365= Team Birkbeck Rallysport 20 - 205= 22 Motorsport 20 - 207 Dealer Team Suzuki - 20 208 R-E-D Motorsport 18 - 189 Vortex MND Motorsport 15 - 15
Nominations for Round 3 - The RSAC Scottish International Rally
Team Name Drivers Name Car Make Team CategoryDealer Team Suzuki Guy Wilks Suzuki S1600Team Birkbeck Rallysport Barry Clark Ford S1600Team Gadgetshop Gareth Jones Renault S1600M Sport Matthew Wilson Ford GpAVK Vodka Kick Steve Perez Ford GpAR-E-D Motorsport TBC Promax Motorsport Seb Ling Mitsubishi GpN22 Motorsport Lorna Smith Subaru GpNVortex MND Motorsport Scott Vogl Subaru GpN
Overall Championship leader is the VK Vodka Kick car driven by Company Director Steve Perez. Steve who is the current British Historic Rally Champion bought an M Sport built Ford Focus WRC car to do Wales Rally GB last November and he liked it so much he decided to keep it to do the British Rally Championship. One of his main rivals comes from the M Sport team, ironically the company that supplied Steve's winning car. M Sport has nominated Matthew, Junior Racing Champion and the son of WRC Team Boss Malcolm Wilson for the RSAC Scottish International Rally.
Matthew who is currently in second place and Steve Perez will both feel the pressure on the Scottish International because it is an event that neither has competed in before.
"It's very early days yet with only 2 rounds out of the 8 scoring events completed, but we couldn't have asked for a more exciting start", reported Mark Taylor. "But, as is the case for all rally championships, consistency will become a key issue and the unpredictability of Scotland will be a real test. I think the Teams Championship will become very interesting as the season progresses.
Teams ReportTop points scorers on the opening round, the Pirelli International Rally, were the VK Vodka Kick Ford Focus WRC driven by Steve Perez, 22 Motorsport with new signing Lorna Smith in her immaculate Subaru N9 and Team Birkbeck Rallysport whose young driver Barry Clark, displayed an immense turn of speed in his Super 1600 Puma.
Dealer Team Suzuki's assault couldn't have got off to a worse start to the Championship when Guy Wilks hit a bank avoiding a fellow competitor who had spun in front of him. However with maturity and outright commitment he made up for the disappointment on the second round by scoring maximum points in Wales.
Neil Gatt team owner and driver of the R-E-D Motorsport Subaru Impreza was not feeling too well on the Pirelli but a steady drive netted him second place points finishing just 5 seconds behind first round Gp N winner Lorna Smith. Diagnosed with an inner ear infection afterwards, Doctors banned Neil from two of his loves in life, flying and driving rally cars. Undeterred and given the all clear, Neil drove a Subaru Impreza S7 WRC for Wales but was sidelined with gearbox failure at the end of the first leg. R-E-D may miss the Scottish due to Le Mans commitments the same weekend.
In there first full season in the British Rally Championship Team Gadgetshop is currently lying in a creditable third place in the overall standings having made steady progress on the first two events. Young Welsh driver Gareth Jones who is partnered by BRC winning co-driver David Senior driving their purple Renault Clio, struggled to match the pace of Barry Clark on the Pirelli. But he certainly made up for all of that on his home turf in Wales finishing just behind Wilks scoring valuable points which means he currently leads the British Super 1600 Championship.
South Wales based Mitsubishi preparation experts Promax Motorsport signed Gp N driver Robert Swann and ex-Peugeot 206 Super Cup star Sebastian Ling as team drivers. Both driving the very latest version 8 Lancers, Rob drove for the team on the first two events scoring credible points which has meant the team sit a comfortably fourth overall. Meanwhile Seb, who failed to finish in Wales after he uncharacteristically left the road, has been nominated to hold the team mantle in Scotland.
The Selby based Vortex MND Motorsport team are running 2003 Ford Ka front-runner Scot Vogl who is competing for the very first time in the Kwik-Fit Pirelli BRC. MND Motorsport who normally specialise in Subaru's are looking after Scot in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 6 with the firm objective of building experience, making pace notes for the first time and learning the events. Scot's sound performance on the Pirelli was overshadowed in Wales when a brand new clutch broke just 30 miles from the start meant that no points demotes them to 9th.
