Tarmac Test for Team Damage Control

Team Damage Control head north of the border this weekend for round four of the Pirelli British Rally Championship. The Jim Clark Memorial Rally takes in twenty-two stages covering one hundred and sixty miles of closed public roads around the Scottish Borders town of Duns with headquarters in the National Hunt racecourse at Kelso.

Team driver, Paul Alexander is contesting the rally for the first time but co-driver Mike Panes has contested the event on numerous previous occasions. His experience of the event will be invaluable as he guides Paul through some of the most demanding stages on the mainland.

Both Paul and Mike are looking to make up for their disappointment on round three, last months Scottish Rally where they were forced to retire with sheared flywheel bolts. The VW Golf Kit Car run by ProSpeed Motorsport, has been fully repaired and is ready to tackle the tough Scottish lanes.

The team hold fourth overall in the Formula 2000 Championship, only eight points behind third place and Paul and Mike will be pulling out all the stops to ensure a strong finish. Being a tarmac round however, the weather will play a major part and Paul commented, “If the weather stays dry I think the Golf will go really well, although if it rains I think the stages will be very tricky indeed”.

Paul added, "We have done a short but good recce. Work is very busy at the moment so a long recce was out of the question. I am really looking forward to the rally, it is one I have always wanted to do. The last time I competed on tarmac was over a year ago when we only did three stages of the Manx National, the time before that was the Cork’20’ the year before. It will take me a few stages to get back into the swing of things but with twenty-two stages that won’t be a problem".

Mike commented, “I did the first ever closed road Jim Clark and have done it three times since. I am glad the format has changed as it makes it a lot more sociable. It is definitely one of my favourite events in the Championship”.