Manx Motorsport Youth Trust recipient Andrew Leece (Onchan) heads into this weekend’s 5^th round of the Silverstone Tyres Ford Rallye Sport Ka Championship, the Mewla National Rally, with no pressure and nothing to loose, unlike the last round.

Crews will tackle close to 90 miles over the thirteen stages taking place on the daunting Epynt roads on Sunday.   Before they take to the stages competitively though, they will have a chance to recce the stages the previous day.

On the previous round, the Manx Trophy Rally, there was a lot of expectation and pressure for a victory from Andrew on his home event.  This was not to be the case though with retirement at the end of the second stage due to a faulty clutch.   The retirement has made winning the championship very hard and will need the other competitors to experience problems to stand a realistic chance.

Andrew is once again joined by fellow MMYT recipient and Manx Gas backed Rob Fagg (Port Erin), and there is not doubt in both driver and co-driver’s mind that they have a point to prove.

“The season has not been too successful for us with niggling problems damaging our championship aspirations.   The Manx was a must win rally for us and unfortunately through no fault of Rob’s or mine we were unable to do this.” commented Andrew, “We have been on the pace all year and in some cases set the pace, and it has been demoralising the way things have gone.   That’s rallying though and I just hope this weekend, with no pressure on us, we can get a result that proves mine and Rob’s potential.”

Since the Manx the N A Fargher Newsagents supported Mark Higgins Rallying Ka has undergone extensive re-preparation in an effort to ensure that there is no reoccurrence of the niggling problems suffered on previous events.  

The event is due to start and finish at the Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, with the first car leaving around 09:00 and finishing at 17:00.

Andrew and Rob would like to thank the following for their continued support: Manx Motorsport Youth Trust, Mark Higgins Rallying, N A Fargher Newsagents, Forest Experience Rally School, Ken and Eve Leece, Motivation Engineering, W.E. Postlethwaite Ltd, Silverstone Tyres, Manx Gas, Integrated Capabilities, Aon (IOM) Ltd and www.rallycodriver.co.uk

Co-ordinator
Robert Fagg Rallying
24/08/2004