Key sponsor deal firms up Mckay’s presence in BRC

Just 4 weeks after his very first outing in the MSA British Rally Championship (BRC), 20 year Ben Mckay heads to the Scottish Borders town of Kelso next weekend to contest the Jim Clark Rally. After suffering a bitter blow to his Pirelli RBF Rally result aspirations last month due to a mechanical failure on the last day of the event, Mckay will have to alter his driving style and temperament as the series switches to its first sealed surface event of the season.

Jim Clark Rally result is key to Parpottas’ championship

Hoddesdon’s rally star Alex Parpottas will make the long drive to the Scottish Borders next weekend as he attempts the second round of the MSA British Rally Championship, The Jim Clark Rally. With the series turning to closed public roads and a sealed surface for the first time this year, Parpottas is looking to secure a top 3 position in the Rally Two category to maintain his chance of securing the coveted Pirelli Star Driver nomination on an event this year.

BRC at MechanEx show

The MSA British Rally Championship and its support series, the NGK Spark Plugs BRC Challenge, will exhibit at next week’s MechanEx show at Manchester’s Event City.

MechanEx is a series of regional automotive trade exhibitions created to enable aftermarket, tools, diagnostic equipment and component manufacturers the platform to interface directly with independent garages.

The shows are organised in association with UK’s leading automotive trade title and BRC Media Partner, Professional Motor Mechanic, the monthly trade magazine with a circulation of over 60,000.

BRC confirmed on Sky Sports

The delayed coverage of round one of the MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally, will air on Sky Sports 4 & 4HD tomorrow (17th May) at 02:30hrs.

So either set your alarms really early, or set Sky Plus to record the action from the notorious Kielder forest as Jukka Korhonen powers to victory – sorry, spoiler alert! As usual, the programme is repeated, so if you miss this showing, go to www1.skysports.com/watch/tv-guide and search for British Rally Championship.

As some compensation for its delay and unsociable broadcast time, production company Greenlight Television has managed to slot the main BRC programme into its Max Power magazine programme in the next two weeks, so keep an eye on schedules.

BRC TV statement

On behalf of the Championship and Greenlight TV, I would like to apologise for the last minute change to the broadcasting of the first round of the MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally. The original postponement and subsequent delay in broadcasting of the programme reviewing round one, which was due to be shown last night and again today, was outside of the control of the championship organisers.

We are currently in close communication with our TV production team and as of today (Tuesday 14th May), we have not yet received any formal notification from Sky detailing the new schedules. I want to assure you that as soon as they are made known to us, we will communicate them.

BRC on Sky Sports and online

Coverage from the opening round of the 2013 MSA British Rally Championship, the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally, will air on Sky Sports 3 & 3HD on Monday 13th May at 6.30pm. The one hour programme will once again be produced by the vastly experienced Greenlight Television.

There’s a change afoot though, as the programme is now designed to be more readily syndicated around the world. To make this process easier, there are no on-screen presenters, something that overseas broadcasters have always found difficult to incorporate. With the broadcast now a week later than in previous years, the Greenlight team also has more time to showcase the best of British rallying.

Rough ride for BRC newcomer Mckay..

Embarking on his lifelong ambition last weekend, 20 year old Ben Mckay from Ellesmere in Shropshire headed to Cumbria to contest the first round of the MSA British Rally Championship (BRC), The Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally. Partnered by father and co-driver Jason, the Mckay family name was seen on the entry list for the very first time as they contest the championship in their Twingo Renaultsport R1.

Tough start to the season for Parpottas…

19 year old MSA British Rally Championship contender Alex Parpottas endured a tough weekend in Cumbria as he contested the first round of the series, The Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally. Battling with time consuming mechanical issues, Parpottas from Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire piloted his Buzz Sweets Ford Fiesta R2 to 12th overall and fifth in class six.

Fast Finn Korhonen dominates on DS3 debut on opening Citroën Racing Trophy UK round!

Former Pirelli Star Driver, 28-year-old Finn, Jukka Korhonen, took a dominant victory on the opening round of the Citroën Racing Trophy UK. Citroën DS3 R3s took an amazing top five places on this opening MSA British Rally Championship round in the forests around Carlisle. The Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally was in honour of the former World Rally Champion.

Korhonen breaks ten-year Finnish BRC drought

Jukka Korhonen and Marko Salminen finished the final stage of the Pirelli Richard Burns Foundation Rally 42.5 seconds clear of the chasing pack, making the 29 year old the first Finn to win a round of the MSA British Rally Championship since Jari-Matti Latvala ten year ago.

The pair led from start to finish in their Citroën DS3 R3T, building a lead of around a minute before easing off on Sunday when Alastair Fisher/Gordon Noble’s early challenge was curtailed by a puncture on Saturday’s fifth stage.

The victory was a smooth one; car and team working seamlessly on the eighty mile event, with Korhonen admitting that he had speed to spare if needed. With the win comes a maximum points haul towards a championship title that he had vowed to win as long ago as last year – so far, so good.