Jason Pritchard and Phil Clarke are bidding to become the first crew to win the Manx National Rally three times in succession this weekend.
The rally forms round two of the MSA Asphalt Rally Championship and the Ford Focus WRC duo will lead the 90-strong field away from the start in Ramsey at 6.45pm on Friday, prior to the opening two stages round the harbour area and North Shore Promenade.
Three more stages at St Jude’s, Ballaugh Cronk and Tholt-y-Will bring the competitive mileage up to 27 for the first leg of the event.
Restarting at 9am from the Grandstand on Saturday, another nine stages will lie in wait for competitors, totalling 81 stage miles, with the finish back at the Grandstand at apprximately 3.40pm.
Former multiple MSA Asphalt Rally Champion Damian Cole and co-driver Paul Morris hope that a recently-acquired Fiesta WRC will carry them to a maiden victory on the event.
Championship runner-up ini 2014, John Stone has enlisted the services of defending champion co-driver Jack Morton to guide him round the route in his Fiesta S2500, while Simon Bowen and Richard Robinson will be anxious to erase the memory of last year’s Manx when gearbox failure put their Impreza S11 out after only six stages.
The event also marks the belated opening round of the 2016 Eurocars Motorsport Manx Rally Championship, with most of the local crews at a disadvantage, having had no events since last November’s PokerStars Rally.
With reigning champion Steve Colley retired and Nigel Cannell not entered, it falls to the father-daughter combination of Timmy and Cliona Collins (Mitsubishi Evo X) to lead the home challenge, starting at number 10.
Timmy is a former winner of the national B section of the event and will quietly go about his business as usual, a top six finish a reasonable target.
Stu Bainborough and Charlotte Shimmin (Evo VI) start immediately behind, Stu having tackled the opening MSA Asphalt Championship round on the Epynt military ranges in Wales with Andrew Cowley in March, so should be sharper for that and will have similar hopes of getting in amongst the WRC cars.
The most intriguing entry from a local viewpoint is undoubtedly the return of Andrew Leece after a couple of years out. He and Graham Fargher are in a new (to them) Mitsubishi at 17, chasing the first pair of an ever-growing BMW proliferation in Manx rallying. George Collister/Adam Yates will target the Darrian of Ashley Field in the bid to be leading two—wheel drive crew, as will the ultra-consistent Kex Walker/Dannii Matthews, both in 325 models.
They will be looking for the times of Dan Colley/Steve Parker in an E30 version, who start at 33.
Others to watch out for include Dave Corris in the Ford Escort WRC, Dan Fenlon and Will Heavey, both in Mitsubishis, and dual road racer/rallier Andrew Dudgeon in his Honda Civic. Ryan Henderson, a star of last week’s Manx Classic, starts at number 92 in his rally debut in the ex-Scott Bradshaw Honda CRX.
Stage list (approximate time schedule for first car), Friday: Special Stage 1 - Ramsey 6.42pm; SS2 6.57; SS3 St Jude’s 1 7.19; SS4 The Cronk 1 8.19; SS5 Tholt-y-Will 1 8.41.
Saturday: SS6 The Garth 1 9.21am; SS7 Knocksharry 1 10.03; SS8 The Baldwins 1 10.20; SS9 St Jude’s 2 12.02pm; SS10 The Cronk 2 12.32; SS11 Tholt-y-Will 2 12.54; SS12 The Garth 2 2.21; SS13 Knocksharry 2 3.03; SS14 The Baldwins 2 3.21.
Start list: 1, Jason Pritchard/Phil Clarke (Focus); 3, Damian Cole/Paul Morris (Fiesta); 4, John Indri/Peter James (Fiesta); 5, John Stone/Jack Morton (Fiesta); 6, Simon Bowen/Richard Robinson (Impreza); 7, Tristan Pye/Andrew Falconer (Impreza); 8, Daniel Harper/Chris Campbell (BMW Mini); 9, David Hardie/John McCulloch (Impreza); 10, Timmy and Cliona Collins (Evo X); 11, Stu Bainborough/Charlotte Shimmin (Evo VI); 12, Ashley Field/Janice Moore
(Darrian); 14, Richard Clews/Carl Williamson
(Impreza); 15, George Collister/Adam Yates (BMW 325); 16, Kex Walker/Dannii Matthews (BMW 325); 17, Andrew Leece/Graham Fargher (Evo); 18, David Corris/TBC (Escort WRC); 19, Rodney White/Sam McMullan (Sunbeam); 20,
David White/Mathew White (Impreza).
Other locals: 28, Andy Dudgeon/Jim Callister (Civic); 29, Dan Fenlon/Michael Keig (Evo); 30, Richard Fishleigh/Mark Bumfrey (Escort); 31, Will Heavey/Joe Dooley (Evo); 33, Dan Colley/Steve Parker (BMW E30); 34, Jasper Kirkpatrick/Martyn Quine (Astra); 37, Dan Shacklock/TBC (TBC); 38, Paul and Michael McEvoy (Impreza); 41, Matthew Carter/Geoff Leece (Escort); 42, Adrian Kermode/Maurice Beckett (Porsche 911); 44, Grant Leece/Nick Pledger (Astra); 55, Kyle Collister/Stephen Christian (Peugeot 106); 56, David Hughes/Emma Kennaugh (BMW 325i); 57, Luke Tunney/TBC (BMW E36); 58, Chris Heyes/Howard Allison (BMW E30 325); 68, Steven Ormond-Smith/Chris Sharpe-Simkiss (Evo VI).