Organisers of RallyScotland, the country’s biggest motorsport event, have confirmed the new date for this year’s rally which will form the 11th and penultimate round of the Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC).
Having contested rounds around the world, including Monte Carlo, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Spain, Alister McRae will lead the world’s fastest rally drivers to Stirling to begin the three-day event starting on Friday, October 15 and finishing on Sunday, October 17.
The switch in dates — which coincides with midterm school holidays — moves the rally from the rain-lashed mid-November weekend which hosted the inaugural event last year.
“We are delighted to be returning to the stunning landscapes of Scotland,” Andrew Coe, chief executive of event organiser, International Motor Sports, said today.
“We’re also hoping the slightly earlier date will mean more daylight hours for competitive rallying as well as providing the perfect showcase for Scotland ’s outstanding natural landscape.”
Former British Rally champ McRae will be aiming to power his Proton S2000 to victory on home soil and this year’s event will again use the grounds of Scone Palace to host one of the spectacular stages.
“We’ve learned a lot from the first running of the rally last year, clerk of the course Iain Campbell, explained, “and we’ve a few little tweaks which we’re going to introduce which will improve the whole package.
“The difficulty is, when we have drivers like IRC champ Kris Meeke describing RallyScotland as the best rally in the world, we’ve a real battle to improve it any further. But we’re all working hard behind the scenes to ensure we do.”
While final details of the route have still to be ironed out, it’s expected some of Scotland’s famous stages — such as Drummond Hill near Perth and the 22-miles of Loch Ard in the Trossachs — will be used again.
JM