The British Rally Championship is delighted to announce that FIA World Rally Championship Powerhouse M-Sport will invite the 2020 BRC champion to their pre-event Wales Rally GB test in October. In 2020, Britain’s premier rallying series will feature six rounds in six territories, with events across the UK in Wales, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland. The series will once again visit Belgium for the classic Ypres Rally as well as the popular staple in Irish Rallying, the West Cork Rally. After a tough and demanding year on the asphalt and gravel, whoever is crowned champion on the Galloway Hills Rally will be personally invited by M-Sport to join the team for its pre-event test ahead of Britain’s round of the globe-trotting series. The prize will enable the champion to immerse themselves within the WRC team as they work with the engineers and technicians and one of the team’s top-flight drivers, Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen or Gus Greensmith as they dial themselves in ahead of Wales Rally GB. The day will culminate with the title winner experiencing the car first hand, as they sit alongside one of the M-Sport stars – and gain a first-hand insight into what the world rally car is really like in the forests. Further to the prize for the 2020 Champion, M-Sport will welcome the Junior BRC and Academy drivers to their Cockermouth headquarters ahead of the final round of the BRC in Scotland. The stars of tomorrow will get a behind the scenes tour through the factory as they see what goes into preparing the latest WRC and R5 machinery – giving them a showcase of the possible next steps in their rallying career. M-Sport Managing Director, Malcolm Wilson OBE, said: “The British Rally Championship has always been close to my heart, and it’s great to give this year’s Champion a real insight into what could be the next step of their career. The UK has some of the best stages in the world, where some of the greatest names in rallying have perfected their skills. And having tamed those same stages this year, the 2020 Champion will have a chance to learn all they can from our FIA World Rally Championship squad – joining the team at a private test ahead of Wales Rally GB to see how the engineers fine-tune the set-up and discover first-hand how one of our top-flight drivers handles the power and performance of the Ford Fiesta WRC. Opportunities like this don’t come along very often, and I hope it inspires some of British rallying’s future stars.” BRC Championship Manager, Iain Campbell, said: “This is certainly a fantastic opportunity for our BRC drivers and we are grateful for the opportunity from M-Sport as they open their doors to our crews. The BRC Champion will get a real insight into how a WRC team operates with the day culminating in a ride in the car. Not many people get to experience the sheer spectacle of the modern-day WRC car and I think the test as a whole will open the eyes of our winner. We are also delighted that our next generation of talent can see the logical next step and get up and personal with the R5 cars as well as the WRC machines with the tour of the impressive facilities. Not that they will need it, but this will offer a great motivation ahead of the final round showdown.”
