C2R2 Cup & Citroën Racing Trophy UK
Pre Pirelli International Rally

As winner of the opening round of the Citroën Racing Trophy UK just over two weeks ago, 2008 Citroën C2R2 Cup Champion Jason Pritchard will head the four pocket rockets off the line for round two of the MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli International Rally this Friday.

Having missed last year’s event with a broken foot and changed co-driver from his Championship winning year, the Welsh youngster and new team-mate Andrew Edwards will need to be on the ball to fend off the other three drivers, all of whom contested the rally last year.

In common with Pritchard, the Pirelli winner in ’08 Andrew Hockridge has also changed co-driver, the second Welsh driver in the series gelling quickly mid-way through last year with Rich Mills. The duo languishes at the foot of the C2 points table though, after struggling on the series opener when the car was involved in a pre-rally accident.

Irishman Marty McCormack is another with a new co-driver for this year, Phil Clarke guiding the pair to second place on round one. McCormack will want to forget the 2008 season opener though, when a broken gear-linkage on the first stage left him in third at the finish.

The only driver and co-driver pairing still together is that of Mark Gamble and Steve Link, but the Midlanders have a rather different new challenge for this year’s Pirelli Rally. New to the BRC in ’08 they contested what was then the season’s first event in a Suzuki, taking that one-make series with a round in hand. But the Pirelli was not their best event, retiring with fuel problems while leading.

Despite only three of the drivers using the new C2 Max Kit, all are eligible for the Citroën Racing Trophy UK’s fantastic prize fund, Gamble given dispensation to upgrade on the first asphalt round. It will still be a hard-fought battle in the infamous Kielder forest complex though, Friday’s stages running into darkness with a full day’s rallying on Saturday too.

The event takes place on Friday & Saturday 17th & 18th April and is based entirely at Carlisle’s racecourse to the south of the City. TV coverage of the Citroën Racing Trophy UK from Bulldog International Rally North Wales will be shown on Sky Sports’ Max Power programme today at 19.00 and tomorrow (Wednesday) at 23.00.

The C2R2 Cup and Citroën Racing Trophy UK are supported by Charles Hurst Motors’ Citroën Parts Direct and Citroën UK.

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