Fourth place for Perez in Barbados opener

In front of thousands of fans gathered at Stewarts Hill in St Philip, Barbados on Sunday, Kick Energy rally driver Steve Perez powered to a fine fourth place at the Shell V-Power ‘King of the Hill’, which was the Barbados Rally Club’s (BRC) final shakedown before the Caribbean’s biggest annual motorsport event, Sol Rally Barbados 2009, next weekend (May 29-31). 

Higgins holds on to win BRC Jim Clark Rally

Another cracking MSA British Rally Championship counter ended this Saturday in Kelso, with Mark Higgins and Bryan Thomas hanging on to win the Jim Clark International Rally after seventeen nail-biting stages.
 
Higgins’ record-breaking fifth BRC victory on Borders asphalt came after Championship leader Keith Cronin suffered a puncture on Friday night, but his comeback from a two minute deficit was very nearly successful, as Higgins struggled with a car that was intermittently on three cylinders and without an effective centre differential.

Bernhard ten Brinke impresses during his debut in Ford Focus WRC

Bernhard Ten Brinke made his debut in the Van Merksteijn Motorsport Ford Focus WRC 06 during the Sezoensrally which was run last weekend around the Belgian Bocholt. In his first rally with the WRC car he managed a very respectable 7th place overall in a strong international field of competitors. With 12 WRC cars at the start and almost a third of the distance being gravel, it was a difficult rally in which he took part with co-driver Hans van Goor.

Difficult Donington for HM Plant Honda

The HM Plant Honda and Padgetts Honda teams came away from this weekend’s third round of the British Superbike Championship at Donington Park’s famous 2.5-mile Grand Prix circuit, with a podium finish but also some disappointment.

In the British Superbike class, Josh collided with Guintoli at the Melbourne hairpin on the sighting lap of the opening race – the impact causing the Frenchman to break his right tibia and fibula.

Hockridge survives eventful Jim Clark Rally

Pwllheli based Andrew Hockridge suffered at the cruel hand of fate on last weekends Jim Clark International Rally when a low speed bump with a gatepost damaged his steering and, although the Signature Cheese backed Citroen pilot was able to finish the rally, the incident and ensuring time loss cost him any hopes of a podium position.
 
Andrew and co-driver Rich Mills headed north to the Scottish town of Kelso in confident spirits following a dominant class victory on the recent Manx National Rally, and everything was going according to plan after the opening stages on Friday night. The C2R2 Max pairing had survived a big moment in the dark to lie third in class and were confident of maintaining their pace into Saturday.

Van Merksteijn Motorsport update from the Sezoensrally

Last weekend Peter van Merksteijn jnr. took third place in the Sezoensrally around the Belgian city of Bocholt behind local hero Patrick Snijers and runner-up Erik Wevers. The second Van Merksteijn Motorsport, driven by Bernhard Ten Brinke in his first rally in the Focus WRC, finished the rally in a respectable 7th position.

Geoff Jones in seventh heaven on BRC return

Welsh wizard Geoff Jones enjoyed a strong return to the British Rally Championship on last weekends Jim Clark International Rally, overcoming a lack of pre event testing to run inside the top ten all weekend long in his Team Revolution Wheels Subaru Impreza N14.
 
Geoff, co-driven by young Sam Collis, was standing in for Rob Swann who was away contesting Rally Barbados. Despite not having contested a round of the MSA British Rally Championship since 1999 the Machynlleth based Jones was soon on the pace. A lack of pre event testing and the need to dust off the cobwebs saw the S.A Gas, Vulcan Fasteners, JLT Insurance and Cannock Electrical and Mechanical backed pair loose time to the front runners on Friday night.

Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge UK Round Five Preview

- Severn Valley National – 30th May 2009
- Evo Challenge teams get set for first Welsh Forest encounter
- Epic battle in store between five Mitsubishi crews

This weekend sees the first of two visits to the Welsh forests for the Mitsubishi Ralliart Evolution Challenge, when five crews line up for round five, the Severn Valley National Rally and what has the potential of being the closest battle of the season so far.

Audi R8 LMS successfully passes ultimate endurance test

- All four vehicles finish 24-hour race on the Nürburgring
- Runner-up in first 24-hour commitment
- Winner in GT3-class right from the start

The new GT3 sports car of AUDI AG successfully passed the ultimate endurance test: In the fastest 24-hour race the Nürburgring has ever seen, all four Audi R8 LMS cars that started to the race crossed the finish line. Christian Abt, Jean-François Hemroulle, Pierre Kaffer and Lucas Luhr (Team ABT Sportsline) clinched an unexpected second place in front of 235,000 spectators (throughout the weekend) and grabbed victory right away in the GT3 class for the Audi R8 LMS at its first 24-hour run.

Early exit signals disappointment for JR Motorsports team

• Good start comes to an end when team is sidelined on stage two

This weekend’s Jim Clark Rally, round three of the MSA British Rally Championship, should have seen the JRM Motorsports team bidding for another podium finish, but an encounter with bank, followed by an engine problem, signalled early retirement for David Bogie and co-driver Kevin Rae.