… 2015 ARR Craib Scottish Championship …
Organisers of the ARR Craib Scottish Rally Championship have revealed details of the 2015 series, which kicks off in less than 7 weeks with the traditional season opening Arnold Clark Thistle Hotels Snowman rally, based in Inverness.
Championship Calendar
The programme of events for 2015 is similar to 2014. The Aberdeen based Coltel Granite City moves back one week into May. All events will be predominantly gravel and will run on Saturdays, with the exception of the Jim Clark Reivers, which runs on a Sunday.
Date, Event, Location
21st Feb , Arnold Clark Thistle Hotel Snowman Rally, Inverness, Highlands
21st Mar, Border Counties Rally**, Jedburgh, Scottish Borders
2nd May, Coltel Communications Granite City Rally, Aberdeen, Grampian
31st May, Jim Clark Reivers Rally, Kelso, Scottish Borders
27th Jun, RSAC Scottish Rally**, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway
1st Aug, McDonald & Munro Speyside Stages, Elgin, Moray
5th Sep, GWF Energy Merrick Stages, Wigtown, South West Scotland
3rd Oct, Colin McRae Forest Stages**, Perth, Perth & Kinross
Event Format
As in previous years, some of the championship events will run certain classes at the head of the field and following the results of a competitor survey carried out last season, ALL 2wd cars will run at the head of the field on the Border Counties, Scottish & McRae rallies. The remaining events will run conventional seeding (in order of anticipated performance).
Class Structure
In addition to the previously announced end to the restriction on the age of eligible WRC cars, there have been a number of changes to the championship classes, and these are summarised below;
– Modified cars up to 1050cc added to class 1 (Rally First)
– Expired homologations allowed to compete with currently homologated cars in Class 10.
Top capacity cars split into 3 classes:
– Class 13 – WRC & R5 cars, and any derivatives of these
– Class 12 – Gp A cars, S2000 cars & R4 cars. Any Metro 6R4 or derivative. 4wd cars not in class 13 with a sequential gearbox
– Class 11 – All other 4wd cars, without sequential gearboxes
Dave Robson, Chairman of the ARR Craib MSA Scottish Rally Championship commented: “The changes for 2015 are evolution rather than revolution, and mainly come as a result of feedback from our competitors. We are sure that the slight alteration to running order will enhance the competition in the Clubman 2wd championship with those cars running together more often. In addition, the revisions to the top capacity classes will give crews more chance of being competitive by placing them alongside similar cars, rather than in one class with up to 30 others. In particular, this should help some of the older 4wd cars continue to fight for honours.”
“We feel that these changes will ensure that the Scottish Rally Championship remains the place to be in 2015, and we look forward to another great season starting with February’s Snowman Rally in Inverness.”
2015 Championship regulations will be available from the championship website w/c 5th January.