Early testing has made the team optimistic for the coming season Photo ASM Motorsport

New Cars for ASM

The Barcelona team ASM Motorsport has announced that it will once again be running Antonio Sainz and Ferran Font in the European Historic Rally Championship in 2010. A first season in the Championship brought several class podiums for Ferran Font and a third overall in Category 3, an exploit the team is keen to improve upon in the coming season.

Both Sainz and Font have changed vehicle for 2010, moving into Category 2 for 1970-1975 cars. Sainz will be accompanied by his habitual co-driver Javier Martínez-Cattaneo, with whom he has shared the cockpit for the last few seasons. This year he will be seen driving a Porsche 911 RS and a BMW 2002 – one car for asphalt and the other for rallying on gravel. He may also bring out his powerful Escort in selected events. "We have seen during the past season the difficulty of a head to head fight with the Porsches on tarmac”, said Sainz. “The BMW was chosen for gravel because it is in the same category. But I don’t want to leave the Escort, as it is a vehicle that I am charmed with driving and with which I amuse myself and enjoy very much." Font has moved to an Escort MK1 RS2000 and will concentrate principally on gravel rallies such as Cyprus, Acropolis, Corallo and Lahti, completing his program with Sanremo, Ypres and Costa Brava. In the navigators seat the Andorran driver will have Oriol Julià, who navigated for Oriol Gómez, Xevi Pons and Dani Sordo in the World Rally Championship and more recently for Pedro Font and Alex Bercianos in the Spanish Championship.

Rally del Corallo and Tuscan Rewind Join Forces

As reported in our March issue, Rally del Corallo, an FIA Championship round that this year pairs with the Italian Rally Championship, will run entirely on gravel this year. This ties in with the new Tuscan Rewind event, and loose surface lovers are being offered a special deal if they enter the two rallies, both of which have coordinated their dates so that the Tuscan Rewind takes place on 29-30 May and the Corallo, one week later on 4-6 June. Special discounts on entry fees, a transportation deal for the cars between the two venues (Tuscany and Sardinia, how good does it get?), and special accommodation for those entering both rallies are being negotiated. Keep an eye on either web site for details: www.rallydelcorallo.com, www.tuscanrewind.com.

Special Stage

Tour Britannia organisers have had confirmation from the Llandudno Council that the four and half mile Marine Drive round the famous Great Orme can be used as a special stage on this year's event.

The Great Orme is a limestone headland that stretches out into the Irish Sea to the northwest of Llandudno with the town sitting literally in its shadow. Clinging to the side of the cliffs, The Marine Drive has been used in the past, most notably on the RAC Rally and is similar to the Oliver's Mount stage that was so popular on the 2009 Tour Britannia. It also has echoes of some Irish stages like Donegal's Atlantic Drive and Cork's Cod's Head. For certain, it will be a stunning addition to the special stages of the Tour Britannia 2010.

Normally in use as a toll road with one-way traffic circulating in an anti-clockwise direction, the stage will be run in the reverse direction to eliminate any competitive benefit that might be gained from a weekend spent in Llandudno prior to the event.

Paris Peking Shakedown proved worthwhile, as Bill Bolsover’s Ford Coupe dropped out of contention early on

Maya Classic Rally – Seven Countries 21 Days


The Maya Classic Rally crossed seven countries in Central America in 21 days, and covered more than 5,500 kilometres, providing a challenging but ultimately satisfying event for the 16 participants. Running fro, February 14 to March 4, cars were flagged off in Panama City, visiting Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico, and finishing in Veracruz.
 


Two participants, Steve Hyde and Bill Bolsover used the event to shakedown their Peking to Paris Chevy Coupe’s, going home with a list of problems and improvements. Lack of brakes caused difficulties for Bill Bolsover who dropped out of contention early on.
 


The Lancia Aurelia of Alexander Caviezel, was the surprise package, having real pace until a series of mechanical problems put it out of contention in Guatemala. 
 


The rally was a John Brigden production with his World Wide Classic Car Rally company, which now has a series of new events lined up, including the Cuba Classic Car Rally in August (see our March issue). Details on www.wwccr.com.