This weekend will see Cornish rally driver Matt Cotton return to the British Rally Championship after a 3 year break from the sport when he lines up to tackle the Rallye Sunseeker which takes place in the Bournemouth region. Having to take a forced sabbatical from international rallying in 2009 due to a lack of funds, Matt will face some of Europe’s fastest drivers in the race to win the UK’s most prestigious rallying title.

The British Rally Championship season opener kicks off with an autograph signing session and event start on Poole Harbour during Friday night. An early start Saturday morning will greet the crews before taking them through 65 hard fought miles of forests in Dorset & Hampshire, testing both car and competitors to the limit. If they survive the day, crews will spray the champagne with a ceremonial finish at Bournemouth Pier on Saturday evening.

Matt said; “I haven’t competed on Rallye Sunseeker before so it will be a totally new experience for me. It will take a while to get used to the surface and style of the southern forests but we will get some good car set-up data from our test this week. There are several young European drivers that will put in some very competitive times, but I’d still like to think that I have a good pace. We are certainly not just here to make up the numbers!”

Matt will be co-driven this year by long time friend Glyn Thomas from North Somerset and they will contest both the British Rally Championship and Fiesta Sporting Trophy championships during 2012.

“We are doing our best to raise funds for our BRC assault this year and I’m doing everything I can to make sure we can get a great result and find the sponsorship we require. We would like to welcome our technical partners, Rally Collection UK, Dogcam Sport, PIAA and First Class Technologies to the team”.

During the event, Matt will have a dedicated media team on hand to keep you informed with LIVE news from the event as its happening. You will find results, news and images of Matt’s progress both on and off the stages by visiting www.mattcottonrallying.co.uk, following us on Twitter, or finding us on Facebook.