Amy Williams MBE and Sky Sports News Formula One pundit Tony Jardine sets off for the start of Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship
Olympic skeleton gold medallist Amy Williams MBE and Sky Sports News Formula One pundit Tony Jardine kicked off their Dayinsure Wales Rally GB campaign last night in illustrious fashion as they drove down the ceremonial ramp at the Eirias stadium in Colwyn Bay. The parade signalled the start of Wales Rally GB, the penultimate round of the World Rally Championship.
The duo will be competing in the national class of Dayinsure Wales Rally GB, in The Team PlayStation®VR backed Mitsubishi Evo VII car prepared by ProSpeed’s Olly Marshall. Tony has four class podiums in his impressive 23 Wales Rally GB appearances and is once again joined by Amy in the co-driver’s seat.
Driving on Kumho tires, Amy's and Tony's first competitive special stages of the rally starts with Myherin and Hafren, two of the longest stages on the rally. A challenging Friday night stage will test the pair’s mettle before continuing into the weekend, ending up back at the Service Park in Deeside on Sunday afternoon.
Amy has gone through a rigorous training regime ahead of the event to prepare her for the hours of concentration needed for such a demanding event. British Rally Champion co-driver Craig Parry was on hand to get her back up to speed using a number of methods including a virtual reality rally stage experience.
Tony Jardine commented: "We’ve had such a short run up to this event that our training over the last week had to be intense. I managed to convince Amy to get back in the co-driver’s seat as she admitted she misses the adrenaline rush of the stages. We’ve got to hit the road running and not make any mistakes, the initial stages will be tough, but I’m confident that Amy will soon get into a quick rhythm on the pacenotes."Co-driver, Amy Williams added: “It was great to get back in the car but the real test will come on the stages when we are traveling at speed and I will be shouting the pacenotes at Tony. He has done a few rallies this year whereas I’m coming in fresh, so will need to reacquaint myself with the roadbook and timings, but I’m confident.”
Ahead of the rally start, Amy and Tony visited ITV Granada at Media City in Salford to talk about their involvement in Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship as well as the ‘Sliding to Success 2018’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness of Team GB’s presence at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Ahead of the rally start, Amy and Tony also found time to meet fans and sign autographs.
Williams and Jardine have started the competitive stages of Wales Rally GB this morning. Live timing for the team in car 92 is available on walesrallygb.com and for live updates follow: @AmyWilliamsMBE, @Tony_Jardine and @HPSJardine on twitter.
