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This year's Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship will have a bigger and better rewards package on offer for its many class categories - with expanded prizes and incentives for its Junior, Historic, Two-Wheel Drive and Welsh Challenge categories.
Pirelli will continue as title sponsor of the 2024 Welsh Rally Championship, in a partnership which goes back 13 years to 2012.
Jonathan Wells, Pirelli UK Motorsport Manager, said: "We are pleased to continue our long-standing relationship with the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs in support of the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship. The club continues to organise a fantastic array of events with great depth of talent displayed across the competitor base, allowing us to showcase our excellent range of Pirelli Scorpion gravel rally tyres in many different conditions. We look forward to the fast-approaching 2024 season and expect another great year in the Welsh forests."
The buoyant Welsh Junior Rally Championship - which had 11 points-scoring drivers, six of which were still in contention for the title entering the final round, and eight points-scoring co-drivers last year - will be boosted in 2024 with Restruct joining OnThePaceNote as joint class sponsors.
The prize for the winning Welsh Junior driver will be a day with triple British champion Matt Edwards, who is one of the most sought-after rally tutors in the world, while the winning Welsh Junior co-driver will receive a goodie bag filled with some great kit that OnThePaceNote's Craig Parry used during his professional co-driving career.
OnThePaceNote UK's Craig Parry said: "For the 2024 prize we wanted to offer something that would benefit both driver and co-driver. Bringing Matt Edwards into the equation was a perfect fit with his experience of both competing and tuition, and to have a session with him will benefit any young driver. For the co-drivers, giving them the tools that benefited me over the years would hopefully help them while they are competing in the future. We are delighted to carry on our collaboration with Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship for a sixth year."
Restruct, which is owned by Welsh Historic rally driver Ron Morgan, and OnThePaceNote will come together to offer an exclusive driving training and media day during 2024, for all registered Welsh Junior Rally Championship competitors.
Ron Morgan said: "It gives us great pleasure to be associated with the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs and it is very exciting to be sponsoring the Juniors this year knowing how difficult it is starting out in rallying. We wish all the Juniors the best of luck for the forthcoming season and for many years to come - and hopefully finding a new Welsh champion among them."
Hockly Motorsport, one of Wales' most iconic and long-running motorsport operations, will continue to support the Pirelli Welsh Two-Wheel Drive and 1400 class categories.
Jess Hockly-Edwards, Hockly Motorsport Managing Director, said: "As a company we are delighted to have been given the opportunity to continue our support of the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship. We have always prided ourselves on supporting clubman rallying and this championship is a true reflection of grassroots rallying, providing a class for all to compete in within a friendly and welcoming atmosphere. We wish all competitors all the very best for this year, and let's hope it's as competitive as last year."
Lyn Davies, the reigning Pirelli Welsh Historic class W9 champion, has come in as sponsor of the 57 Tyres Welsh Challenge. This very popular category is open to any driver and co-driver who did not finish in the top 10 overall on any round of last year's Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship (or any equivalent status championship event) and who has never previously been Welsh Challenge champion.
Lyn Davies said: "Last year was my first year competing on gravel, after many years of rallying on asphalt, and I really enjoyed it. The Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship is very professionally run, the events are great, there is a great camaraderie amongst the competitors and therefore I wanted to give something back. I'll be back out myself in my Escort Mk2 attempting to defend my Historic class W9 title, and with a bit of luck I'll be a lot quicker this year!"
The David Stokes Historic Challenge award for drivers and the Guy Weaver award for co-drivers will continue into a third year.
The registered crews that finish in the top three of each Historic class at the end of the season will be put forward and a judging panel (made up of representatives from the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship, the Welsh Association of Motor Clubs, members of the Stokes family and Guy Weaver) will select the winners based on criteria such as sportsmanship, unflappable determination, performance improvement and how they go out of their way to promote motorsport in a positive and safe manner.
David Lloyd Roberts and Declan Casey won the awards in 2022, while Jonathan Brace and Jonny 'Tad' Evans won in 2023.
Witham Motorsport - which is part of the Witham Group, one of the UK's leading independent manufacturers and suppliers of automotive, commercial, and industrial lubricants and paints - will continue to offer its generous event-by-event rewards for drivers in the 4WD, 2WD and Historic categories.
Richard Scarbrough, Sales Director of Witham Motorsport, said: "We are delighted to be supporting the prestigious Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship again for the 2024 season. We're eager to witness the thrilling competition and cheer on all the drivers and teams as they battle it out on the iconic Welsh stages. We look forward to contributing to the success of the 2024 championship."
The Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship is proud to announce The Osborne Trust (theosbornetrust.com) as its official charity, which is a new initiative for 2024.
The Osborne Trust is the only national charity dedicated to supporting the children of a parent going through a cancer diagnosis, cancer treatment, cancer recurrence, living with incurable cancer, a death of a parent from cancer and beyond. The Trust has been specifically set up to offer emotional and practical support to children aged 18 years and younger of a parent diagnosed with cancer. For these children, it is providing the opportunity to bring some normality back into their lives, for others it provides some respite from what they see when a parent is undergoing cancer treatment. But for all, at what is such a hard time for these children, the support The Osborne Trust offers reduces their feelings of isolation, lift spirits, bring families together and be a reason to smile.
Emma Osborne, founder of The Osborne Trust, said: "We are thrilled to have been chosen as the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship's official charity for the coming year. Having support from such a fantastic organisation like this will help us raise awareness across Wales about who we are and the work we do to support children during their parent's cancer treatment and beyond. We look forward to working with them throughout the championship. We can't do what we do without fantastic support from organisations such as this and this will help us massively as we continue with our busiest year since we launched back in 2014."
Dave Evison, Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship Secretary, said: "The closed season has been a busy but rewarding few months and it is brilliant to have the enthusiastic support of our sponsors as we head into the rally season. We have a real mix with long-standing supporters and some new sponsors for this season, which is fantastic as it enables us to offer that little extra to our contenders which in turn supports the events making up the series. We are also delighted to have a new partner in The Osborne Trust. Emma, who runs the charity, has done some fantastic work and we are delighted to support the charity and to spread the message to a new audience. Please do look up The Osborne Trust."
The Welsh Association of Motor Clubs organised 2024 Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship will start with the Get Jerky Rally North Wales on Saturday 16 March. Organised by Wolverhampton & South Staffs Car Club, the Welshpool-based event will have stages in Garth, Dyfi and Dyfnant forests.
More details on the 2024 Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship can be found online at: wnrc.wamc.org.uk.
2024 Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship
Saturday 16 March.......Get Jerky Rally North Wales
Saturday 13 April.......Rallynuts Severn Valley Stages
Saturday 18 May.......Plains Rally
Saturday 13 July.......Nicky Grist Stages
Saturday 7 September.......Phil Price Memorial Woodpecker Stages
Saturday 26 October.......Visit Conwy Cambrian Rally
Saturday 16 November.......Wyedean Rally
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