Rally Scotland: Latest news - Part 4

Barrable ready for Scotland after test rally

Robert Barrable might not have competed in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge since his strong showing on the all-asphalt Barum Czech Rally Zlín back in August, but that doesn’t mean the Irishman won’t be fully prepared when he starts RACMSA Rally of Scotland in Stirling later today.

Dublin-based Barrable and co-driver Damien Connelly took part on the Bushwhacker Rally in Northern Ireland recently (pictured) to fine-tune the suspension settings on their privateer ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000. They finished seventh overall.

Barrable, who scored IRC drivers’ points on June’s GEKO Ypres Rally in Belgium, is one of four drivers from across the Irish Sea competing in Scotland this weekend. Craig Breen, Alastair Fisher and Jonny Greer will also be making their journey to compete in Super 2000 machinery.

Bogie up for IRC Production Cup success

Not content with winning the British and Scottish titles this season, David Bogie will start his home round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, RACMSA Rally of Scotland, firmly in contention for IRC Production Cup honours in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer.

The 24-year-old, who is co-driven by fellow Scot Kevin Rae, is ranked as one of Scotland’s best young rally drivers and will tackle the country’s IRC qualifier for a third time this season. He was the top Group N finisher in fourth overall last year (pictured) but admits emulating such a lofty finish will be a tall order.

“There are 18 S2000 cars on the entry list, so it’s one heck of a line-up,” said Bogie. “As the entry is so much stronger this year, it will be much tougher to finish as high as that again. We can’t expect to be on the S2000 pace but if we can beat a couple of them and finish as the top production car I’d be more than happy. I would love to have had a chance to join the S2000 field but we don’t have the budget so it’s up to us to do the very best job we can with the Mitsubishi. That’s our objective.”

Bogie also hopes to use his appearance on the gravel event to demonstrate his talents on an international stage, particularly with extensive coverage of the rally being shown live on Eurosport.

“With so many people now following the IRC, it’s a great opportunity for me to showcase what I can do,” said Bogie. “I would love to do more international events like this and a good performance in Scotland will be a step in the right direction.”

PROTON team excited ahead of ´home´ rally

PROTON Motorsports’ head Chris Mellors is relishing his team’s outing on RACMSA Rally of Scotland this week – and not just because it’s the event where the Malaysian make scored its best IRC finish to date, Alister McRae’s second place in 2009.

The PROTON team splits its time between the IRC and the Asia Pacific Rally Championship, where it has enjoyed outstanding success this season with McRae and Australian driver Chris Atkinson.

Although the squad is backed by the might of the Malaysian car maker, its fleet of Satria Neo Super 2000s are prepared at its base in Derbyshire, England, making Rally of Scotland the closest thing to a home round of the IRC for the team.

“Scotland is an event the team all enjoy,” said Mellors. “Having travelled a fair bit this season, it’s good for the guys to come and compete at home – and the competition will be fierce again this week.”

PROTON starts the event on a high following McRae’s maximum score on the Hokkaido Rally in Japan last week and after Giandomenico Basso claimed an IRC drivers’ championship point on Rallye Sanremo last month.

“We come to this rally match-fit after clinching the drivers’ Asia-Pacific title in Japan last week,” said Mellors. “Obviously, it’s been a while since PG [Andersson] was in the car on gravel, but he had a good opportunity to get some valuable set-up work done at the test on Wednesday. We’re really pleased with the way the development of the car is going now and we’ve shown that we’ve cut the gap dramatically [to our rivals] on recent asphalt rounds of the IRC.”

Fisher boosted ahead of Scotland IRC return

Alastair Fisher says his victory in the WRC Academy Cup section of France’s round of the world championship last week was the perfect preparation for his Intercontinental Rally Challenge return in Scotland from 7-9 October.

Fisher, from Northern Ireland, will drive an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 on RACMSA Rally of Scotland, which he last contested in 2009 when the event was included on the IRC schedule for the first time.

“In terms of the stages [France] wasn’t the best rally I’ve done this year but in terms of results and my speed this is definitely one of the best rallies so far,” said the 23-year-old. “I was setting top three stage times consistently, which was the objective before the start. It’s also a great way to prepare for Rally of Scotland.”

Fisher, who will be co-driven by Daniel Barritt, continued: “We might be switching from Tarmac to gravel for Scotland but I head there full of confidence and with a good rhythm after my result in France. I’ll be going there aiming to produce another strong performance.”

Noble to pass on experience to Jardine

Gordon Noble will be planning to pass on the experience he gained from the recent Colin McRae Forest Stages when he co-drives Tony Jardine on RACMSA Rally of Scotland this week.

The experienced navigator from Northern Ireland is linking up with the television personality on board an M-Sport Ford Fiesta R2.

The Colin McRae Forest Stages, which like Rally of Scotland is based in Perth, uses similar stages to the route of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event. Sadly, Noble’s outing on the Scottish championship event ended in retirement following a mechanical failure.

“When I got the call from Tony last week I jumped at the chance to get out there on stages such as Drummond Hill and Errochty,” said Noble. “It will be a good experience and I am keen to get going. We have 200 kilometres of competitive stages to challenge us, and it will be a demanding rally. The first two stages on Friday night will be run in the dark, as will one or possibly two stages on the Saturday night. It is tricky enough during daylight let alone at night, but that is all part of the challenge and we will just get stuck in and attack it.”