Enthusiastic local rallying amateurs are being given the chance to compete on the same high-profile bill as Sébastien Ogier, the reigning world champion, in the challenging Welsh forests this autumn.
[aoa id=”1″]
The Wales Rally GB (October 3-6) provides competitors with not one but two fantastic opportunities to be part of this country’s round of the celebrated FIA World Rally Championship.
[/aoa]
British crews wishing to pit their skills against their illustrious WRC counterparts have the choice of entering the full four-day World Championship event or the cost and time-saving two-day WRGB National Rally.
As has proved so popular in recent years with both competitors and fans, the WRGB National Rally shadows the full World Championship event, giving enthusiastic entrants a real taste of the premier league WRC action and spectators yet more trackside entertainment to savour.
All those contesting the WRGB National Rally are based together with the star-studded WRC teams within the event’s busy Service Park, which this year moves to Llandudno. Moreover, they compete against-the-clock on the same gravel forest tracks, in front of the same huge crowds and are honoured on the same finishing podium.
The event includes classes for both contemporary and historic rally cars with the presence of icons from yesteryear, such as Ford Escorts, Subaru Imprezas and even VW Beetles always being a massive huge crowd-pleaser.
The 2019 WRGB National Rally offers 85-miles of top class rally action on some of the world’s most challenging and famous special stages.
The action starts in North and Mid Wales on Friday with four classic special stages set in the forests of Elsi, Penmachno, Dyfnant and Aberhirnant plus a visit to Slate Mountain in Blaenau Ffestiniog where the speed test at the renowned adventure sports venue high up in Snowdonia has now been resurfaced to forest standards.
The battleground then moves to Mid Wales with three longer and more exhilarating timed stages on what’s rightly billed as ‘Super Saturday’. Dyfi, Myherin and Sweet Lamb Hafren are all hallowed in rallying folklore and, with all three World Championship stages each totalling around 15-miles in length, they will provide a challenging and rewarding finale to the 2019 WRGB National Rally.
Surviving crews will return to the seafront in Llandudno for a well-deserved Ceremonial Finish and prize-giving on the World Championship podium.
With so much to offer, recent WRGB National Rallies have proved incredibly popular, often selling-out swiftly. This year is expected to be similarly oversubscribed when online entries – priced at £990 (exempt of VAT) – open on Wednesday, August 7.
“There are not many sports where amateurs can compete alongside their heroes and the WRGB National Rally is a wonderful opportunity for crews from all levels of the sport to test themselves against the world’s very best on some of the world’s finest forest stages – also to savour the amazing atmosphere of a WRC event,” said Hugh Chambers, chief executive of Motorsport UK, organiser of Wales Rally GB.
