Kielder Calls Peugeot 206 Super Cup for Round 2

Posted: April 15, 2003 5:58 PM

The event uses Peugeot’s innovative double header system with half Championship points and half prize money for each day. The format allows competitors who retire on day one to compete again on day two. Cars are re-scrutineered and drivers can have another chance of gaining the top spot.

Shaun should be match ready as he is competing in both the UK and French 206 brcChampionships finishing the first French round earlier this month. But Midlander and Peugeot Challenge stalwart Richard Sykes will be hot on his heels having led the first rally at one point.

A rising star will be making the trip to the North East of England again and regulars will be watching their backs as Spaniard Joan Roca competes for the second time in the UK having stormed to third place at his first attempt.

Welsh youngster Sebastian Ling has had a steep learning curve having come to the Super Cup after competing in just three events in a Peugeot. He has not disappointed though and comes to the Pirelli in fourth place in the Championship.

Mike Faulkner has only to travel from Carlisle for the start of the rally but his car will make the long journey from near Inverness where it is prepared. He hopes to improve on his fifth place and is due for a win soon having briefly led the series in 2002.

Apart from York based Olly Marshall who won the A7 class in the British Rally Championship in 2002, the remainder of the 206 Super Cup top ten has a distinctly non-English feel. Gareth MacHale and Phillip Morrow travel from opposite sides of the Irish border, George Philippedes is a long way from his Greek birthplace and Stuart Jones more at home in the forests of Wales. Amongst other likely front runners will be local Geordie fire fighter Chris Moore who has a mountain to climb having retired on the Borders. Slowing with electrical problems whilst in the lead, he pulled over to avoid ruining Mike Faulkner’s rally and slipped into a ditch. Chris will be available in a pre rally online forum to answer questions at www.brcweb.co.uk from 8pm on Tuesday 15th April.

The rally starts from the newly redeveloped Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead on Friday at 5.30pm with two spectator stages, service area and rally show nearby. The restart is at 7am on Saturday with all the stages in the Kielder forest complex and centralised service at Hexham Mart. The finish ramp is back at the Baltic Centre at 5pm where the winner will be spraying champagne after over 100 competitive miles.

British Alpine Team member and Winter Olympic ski star Alain Baxter will drive the Peugeot 206 Super Cup celebrity car on the Pirelli National and Pirelli Gateshead Rallies. The double header is on Friday and Saturday 25th & 26th April and is the second round of Peugeot’s one make championship.

Snowsport GB, the British Ski and Snowboard Federation, which has been responsible for the management and promotion of Snowsport athletes since 1964, is sponsored by Peugeot Motor Company. Alain is one of the success stories and he is in the running for selection on Team GB for the Olympics in Turin 2006, and has won two Europa Cups this season.

Alain, whose team has seven skiers in the world top 100, has never driven on a rally before but he passed the new Motor Sports Association rally driving test in a Peugeot 206 with flying colours earlier this month.

Although he is no stranger to speed, the forests of Kielder will prove more of a challenge than his experience on the Silverstone handling stage, and he will be looking for some guidance from his experienced Welsh co-driver, Aled Davies. They will have a chance to drive the car on the Thursday before the rally. Alain will then test his slalom ability on some of the sweeping corners of the notorious Kielder forest and to add even more intrigue, the Friday stages will run into darkness.

The rally starts from Baltic Square by the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead at 5.30 on Friday afternoon with two spectator stages and restarts on Saturday with stages in Kielder and central service at Hexham Mart.

• www.peugeot.co.uk/motorsport
• www.pirelliinternationalrally.co.uk
• www.alainbaxter.co.uk