Entries for Wales Rally GB closed late last week, with an outstanding field of 60 International cars representing 19 nations lining up to compete against-the-clock on an exciting new-look route featuring 23 gruelling special stages.
The entry list is topped by the world championship winning M-Sport Ford World Rally Team starring last year’s winner Elfyn Evans (above on podium) and also includes another Welsh wizard, Matt Edwards.
This year’s eagerly-awaited Wales Rally GB also features the final two rounds of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship – a title race which Edwards (right) is hoping to win in Wales having dominated the 2018 series to date.
While many eyes will be on local heroes Evans and Edwards, crews are coming from as far afield as New Zealand, India, the USA and Argentina to contest one of the most exciting and challenging events on the WRC calendar.
The introduction of new laws to close public roads for motor sport has enabled significant innovations to the packed four-day schedule. Thursday evening’s popular curtain-raiser at the Tir Prince Raceway in Conwy County has been enhanced while Friday’s action is switched to new and extended speed tests set in north Wales.
On ‘Super Saturday’ the crews face some serious mileage in the classic forests of mid Wales before Sunday’s ground-breaking finale sees cars racing through the streets of Llandudno for the very first time.
The winners of both the 2018 Dayinsure Wales Rally GB and the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship will then be crowned on the resort’s famous seaside Promenade.