Isle of Man based rally co-driver Rob Fagg faces two very different challenges in the next ten days.

This weekend he travels to Pickering to contest the International Rally Yorkshire, a round of both the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship and the Mitsubishi Evolution Challenge.

Rob, an Isle of Man Sports Aid recipient, has been tackling the Mitsubishi series throughout the year alongside rising Scottish star David Bogie, and the pair have put in several noteworthy performances in their Oakbank Services/Pro-Tec Motorsport/Kumho-sponsored Mitsubishi Evo 9, although non-finishes have ruled them out of contention for the star prize of a seat with the factory Mitsubishi Motors UK team for 2008.

Nonetheless, they have been handed a top ten start number for this weekend’s event, testament to those performances so far.

Bogie in fact comes in to the event fresh from outright victory on last weekends McRae Stages in a Toyota Corolla WRC. It was an emotional result as the Bogie family are close friends with the McRae's.

Switching back to the Evo shouldn't prove to big an issue for the 20 year-old pilot, who has been tackling events in different machinery throughout the year.

In particular the pair will take great confidence from a superb third place overall finish, winning the production category, on the Wold Construction North Humberside Forest Rally in March. That event used many of the same stages that they will encounter this weekend, including the classic Cropton, Langdale and Gale Rigg tests. 

Although primarily a testing opportunity with Rally Yorkshire in mind and it provided a valuable learning curve as to the speed carried on the long forest straights and the nature of the surface affecting breaking distances. Indeed the data management system recorded speeds of 125mph on the forest tracks, an indication of the commitment that will be required again this weekend.

The International Rally Yorkshire features 100 competitive miles split into 11 special stages over one hectic day. It starts on Saturday at 9.15am from Pickering Showground, where it returns at lunch-time for a half-mile spectator stage and a main service halt, with the finish scheduled for 6.00pm that evening.

Within hours of the conclusion however Rob leaves to head for the Tunnocks Tour of Mull Rally, renowned as the biggest 'clubmans' challenge in the sport.

It will be all change, from the long fast forest straights of Yorkshire to the notoriously bumpy tarmac ribbon of closed public roads on the island of Mull. From the production class Mitsubishi to a world rally car Subaru Impreza, and as if that's not enough a different driver as well; John Cope.

It will be Rob's second Tour of Mull, having first competed in 2004 with Manx driver George Collister. Cope has however tackled the event almost twenty times and has come close to winning on several occasions. He also holds the record for the event longest and most famous stage, Calgary.

The pair have been seeded at number four for the highly specialised event, behind only Mull legends Neil MacKinnon (Subaru WRC) and Calum Duffy (Ford Escort) and former Stobart Ford driver Dougi Hall (Evo 8). 

Following a full week of recce and preparation the Tunnocks Tour of Mull is flagged away at 8pm next Friday, 12th October from the capital of Mull, Tobermory. The opening leg takes in eight stages, running through the night to finish at around 2am.

The action resumes at midday on Saturday for the next six test, finishing at around 4pm. That's by no means the end of affairs however as a 9pm resumption brings a further five tortuous flat out stages, before the event finishes at 2am on Sunday back in Tobermory.

Rob is supported in 2007 by the Isle of Man Sports Aid Foundation, C Tarleton Hodgson & Son Ltd, Robert Graham & Co Chartered Quantity Surveyors, www.Mexperience.com, NickyGrist.com, Euromanx – Isle of Man’s Airline, Advanced Autosport Technologies and Manx Telecom.

Media
04/10/2007