FABIA WRC ARRIVES AT PROSPEED

Posted: March 5, 2005 9:40 PM

The ex Toni Gardemeister car is a late 2004 model complete with paddle shift and the lucky driver to get first use of it will be experienced Nigel Heath who plans to contest a number of world championship events in it.

Along with co driver Steve Lancaster, the pair will use the car on Nigel's self proclaimed '50th Birthday Tour' and following a shakedown on next month's Wold Construction North Humberside Forest Rally the pair will take in the Rally Italia in Sardinia, the Rally of Turkey, Rally Finland and culminating with Rally GB.

Thereafter, Heath, who will have the car liveried in his traditional 'zebra' colours, may contest Rally Catalunya if it is gravel or the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire if not to round off a memorable year.

ProSpeed boss Olly Marshall commented: 'It's fantastic to have the car here at last, and it will be great to have it on a local event on its first outing. Our relationship with Skoda is building all the time, and to have one of the latest cars here will hopefully help to build their competitive reputation in this country.'

Whilst other privately run Fabias abound in parts Europe, this will be the first one to be based in the British mainland and compliments a number of Octavias currently owned by the Yorkshire concern.

Marshall meanwhile, fresh from a superb top twenty placing on last weekend's Rallye Sunseeker in Bournemouth, is also looking to compete on the Hull-based event himself in the Skoda Octavia WRC.

Meanwhile, more positive news coming out of ProSpeed HQ in Sherburn-in-Elmet has confirmed that they have secured the contract with Skoda Motorsport to run all their VIP Hospitality operation at all World Rally Championship events along with obtaining the merchandising rights for official Skoda garments which are currently undergoing re-branding. In addition, Prospeed will be managing the marketing strategies for Skoda Motorsport during 2005 also.

ProSpeed protégé Dom Mernock from Harrogate has confirmed that 19 year old Mat Smith from Pickering will compete with him on the BRC Stars of the Future Championship. They will continue to use their Peugeot 206, which is undergoing a respray and a rebuild in time for the championship which gets underway in Wales on April 23rd. The youngsters are planning an outing on the North Humberside Forest Rally also as a test meaning a three car presence on round three of the BTRDA Championship round on April 2nd.