Fiestas head to the bay
Round four of the VK Fiesta SportingTrophy UK series takes place next Saturday 19 July as crews head to Wales for the second time of the season to compete on The Swansea Bay National Rally. The event based in the SA1 Waterfront region of Swansea will give competitors over forty miles of classic forestry stages that are also used on the infamous Wales Rally GB.
With longer fast and flowing stages than the previous round - The Severn Valley Rally, the crews will face a challenging, and compact route. The cars will start at 08:00 and cross the finishing line just after lunchtime, therefore maximum concentration from the word go will be required by all competing.
Nineteen registered crews will take to the start of the event, with championship leader Elfyn Evans (19) from Machynlleth leading the cars away. Evans comes into the event after an excellent win on round three, where he finished a fantastic third overall in the event. Evans will be partnered again by his usual navigator Gareth Roberts. Evans recently competed on the Mid-Wales stages finishing an impressive 10th overall, he will be looking to leave Wales with another victory, helping increase his current championship lead.
James Everard (22) from Hull, is currently lying second in the UK championship standings. Everard comes to the event hoping for a better result than on the previous round, an excursion to a ditch on the very first stage saw him being denied from his third consecutive podium. Everard will have usual navigator Sam Collis calling the notes. Everard recently competed on a local event in his native North East finishing fifth overall and will be hoping this result will stand him in good steed to take another podium result in Swansea.
Third in the UK standings is Liam Regan (20) from Belfast. Regan has had a good solid start to the season to see him lying in his best championship position to date. Regan recently competed on the Quinton stages rally in Wales to gain some more experience of the Welsh forest roads, he set some impressive times during the day but a small off put an end to his attack. Regan will be keen to get to the end of the event and use his recent Welsh experience to secure him a good points haul to move him up the championship standings.
Max Utting (22) has had a mixed start to the season, with a change of navigator and being hampered by numerous amounts of bad luck, lying fourth in the championship is a great example of how his determination and not giving up has rewarded him. Utting finished an impressive second on the previous round with new partner Huw Matthias. The successful pairing will reunite for round four and hope to celebrate another podium result come lunchtime on Saturday.
Currently fifth in the championship is Meilyr Evans (18) team-mate to championship leader Elfyn. Meilyr suffered a dramatic accident on his last FST Ireland round in Ireland. With extensive damage to the car the GEMsport team have worked hard to get him ready for action in Swansea. Meilyr has been getting ever quicker throughout the season, and with a clean run a podium position could be on the cards for the young Welshman and navigator Andrew Edwards.
Other drivers of interest to watch will be Tom Walster (21) from Nottingham, Walster finished third on the previous round after an eight month sabbatical and will be hoping to repeat and even better this result at the weekend. An 11th overall position on the recent non-championship Mid Wales Stages saw him finish just behind Elfyn Evans so Walster will be confident of his pace coming to the event start. John Lloyd from Cumbria has had a number of good results in his first year and with improving pace a top five finish could be achievable. Last years FST Ireland winner Alastair Fisher (19) from Trillick, Co. Tyrone will also take to the start of the event hungry for victory after a sliding wide on a corner and becoming beached off the road put an end to his last FST event.
The fourth round of the series sees the championship move into the second half of the season and also sees the exciting arrival of two new international crews, Majid Al Shamsi and Khalil Al Shaikh come to Swansea as members of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority Junior Rally Team. With the team wanting their drivers to experience worldwide rallying experience the Fiesta SportingTrophy UK will be a great place for them to develop their rallying careers.
Registered crews are competing for a prize fund of £17,550 over the course of the year, with the winner on each round taking home £750, decreasing to £75 for eighth position - a total of £2,295 on each round of the series.
FST championship leader Elfyn Evans said:
I am looking forward to the event, with a good result on the Mid Wales Stages I’m hoping I can use my confidence from that rally to take forward to Swansea and come away with a good result. As I’m currently leading the championship it is important for me to finish the event and retain the championship lead, it’s a good turn out for the event so it will be a challenge but an exciting one at that.
Overall standings table
Position Driver Points
1 Elfyn Evans / Gareth Roberts 68
2 James Everard / Sam Collis 57
3 Liam Regan / Francis Regan 56
4 Max Utting / Hugh Mathias 56
5 Meilyr Evans / Andrew Edwards 46
6 Kyle Orr / Tony McDaid 40
7 Stevie Brown / Ian Morrison 38
8 John Lloyd / Mark Egglestone 33
9 Barry Greer / Anthony O Connaill 31
10 Richard Archer / Matthew Whattam 30
11 Alick Kerr / Drew Sturrock 30
12 Alastair Fisher / Paul Morris 30
13 Kris Hall / Chris Ridge 28
14 Tom Walster / George Gwynn 22
15 Luke Francis / Chris Jones 17
16 Nick Edwards / Mark Ammonds 11
17 Phillip Liddle / Alex Procter 10
18 Clive Hilton / Dylan Jenkins 9
19 Richard Parry - Jones / Sara Price 9
20 Andrew Wheatley / Glenn Patterson -
21 Dez Rowland / Martin Abbott -