Good news for Welsh rally fans

The organisers of the Pirelli MotorsportUK Welsh Forest Rally Championship have confirmed that they will continue to enjoy the support of the market leading tyre manufacturers as title sponsors while also unveiling their calendar for the 2019 series, writes Peter Hughes.

It was also good news at the Autosport Show when Mid-Wales driver Elfyn Evans was confirmed as the lead driver in the M-Sport Ford Fiesta WRC challenge.

The Pirelli Welsh Championship will kick off with the Cambrian Rally on February 16^th. The Llandudno based event will include some of the classic North Wales stages in the Conwy area which, like the majority of the stages throughout the Championship, have benefitted from the maintenance programme carried out by Rally4Wales.

Round two is Rally North Wales on 30^th March with the Dolgellau based event once again featuring some of the most iconic stages in the Rallying world.

Competitors move to Mid Wales for the third round of the Championship and the Builth Wales based Rallynuts Rally Stages on April 13^th.

Round 4, on May 11^th is the Plains Rally, the 53^rd running of the Welshpool based event.

As the Championship moves into the second half of its season it’s down to South Wales with competitors getting a rare chance to tackle the challenging stages in and around the Neath Valley on the Red Kite Stages, taking place on June 23^rd.

Round 6 takes competitors to the Royal Welsh Showground for the Nicky Grist Stages on 13^th July while the penultimate round takes them over the border to England. While the start of the Woodpecker Stages on 31^st August may be in Ludlow, however, the bulk of the stages will be in Wales, specifically Radnor Forest.

The Championship concludes with the Wyedean Stage Rally on November 9^th and the reserve event for 2019 is the National Rally of Wales Rally GB on October 4^th and 5^th.

Confirming the calendar and the series sponsorship, Championship coordinator Dave Evison said, “As an organising team we are delighted to be able to once again offer our competitors the opportunity to tackle some of the best rally stages in the country, if not the world.

“We are, of course, hugely grateful to Pirelli along with all our other sponsors for their support including the continued support of RAVENOL. We believe that the continued backing of such prestigious companies is a tribute to the superb events that the organisers put on and the competitive nature of our Championship. Meanwhile, we are introducing a number of new initiatives to reward our competitors because without them there would be no Championship.”