Competitors in the 2019 Pirelli MotorsportUK Welsh Forest Rally Championship tackle the second round of the series this Saturday, the North Wales Rally Service Rally North Wales.
The Championship started with the Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally where maximum overall drivers points went to Russ Thompson in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX.
Missing from that event, however, was reigning champion Dylan Davies. The Llanon driver is set to start his title defence on this weekend’s event, based in Dolgellau, behind the wheel of his new Skoda Fabia, teamed up once again with 2018 champion co-driver Llion Williams.
Among those seeking to deny Dylan points will be Richard Ceen running the Ford Focus World Rally Car and 2018 RAVENOL Welsh Challenge winner Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Subaru duo Keith Gapper and Jordan Wilkinson will be looking for a strong points haul while Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss may be in an Historic specification Ford Escort, but they are more than capable of getting in among the front runners as are Rudi Lancaster and Guy Weaver.
Wug Utting took the 2018 Senior title but missed out on Group N honours by a single point to Scott Faulkner. Wug teams up with Bob Stokoe once again this season in their Subaru Impreza and will be looking both to defend the Senior category and go one better in Group N.
At the other end of the age range, the Junior category, supported by onthepacenote.com, is currently led by Tom Llewellin, son of former British Rally Champion David Llewellin. Tom will not only be looking to build on that lead but he and co-driver Ross Whittock, son of top co-driver Dave Whittock, will be seeking a strong points haul in the two-wheel drive category in their Ford Escort.
The two-wheel drive category, supported this year by lightninghouse.net, looks set to be among the most closely fought parts of the Championship and Tom faces strong opposition this weekend including former two-wheel drive champions Andrew and Jamie-Lee Fox in their BMW 325 and Colin Griffiths in his BMW Compact.
Another BMW mounted crew are David Jones and Glyn Price while Ieuan Rowlands and Emyr Hall are out in their 2.8 litre Ford Escort. Meanwhile, among the front wheel drive crews will be Rhydian Price and Steven Brown in their Ford Fiesta ST.
The RAVENOL Welsh Challenge drivers’ category is currently led by Damian Pratts in his Ford Escort, three points ahead of Tom Llewellin while fellow Escort driver Hywel Davies currently lies in fourth place.
Leading the RAVENOL Welsh Challenge co-drivers’ category following the opening round is Johnny Tad Evans ahead of Keaton Williams with Simon Jones in third place.
Rally North Wales may be only the second round of an eight-round series that runs all the way through to November but the fact that last year’s championship saw the top two in the overall standings finishing tied on points shows that every point counts. Spectators can therefore expect some hard-fought action among the Championship contenders as they make their way through the superb North Wales stages.
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