… Gallagher steps down, Campbell steps up …
Wales Rally GB bade a fond farewell today to one of its staunchest supporters and most loyal servants – as Clerk of the Course Fred Gallagher confirmed his retirement from the role on the eve of his 20th event.
Gallagher has enjoyed a long and proud career in rallying at the very highest levels of the sport, co-driving for no fewer than five World Rally Champions. The Ulsterman made his WRC debut alongside John Haugland in a Skoda 120 on the 1975 RAC Rally – the forerunner to Wales Rally GB.
In 1981, he embarked upon a successful partnership with the late Henri Toivonen, firstly in a Talbot Sunbeam and subsequently an Opel Ascona, before switching to Toyota in 1984 where he navigated for another ‘Flying Finn’, Juha Kankkunen.
In 1986, Gallagher joined Björn Waldegård and the pair won the fearsome Safari Rally at their first attempt together – his second of three triumphs on the gruelling African event. It was a working relationship that would endure all the way up to 1992.
Other greats of the sport to be delivered pace notes by the Northern Irishman included world champions Ari Vatanen – with whom he won the 1997 FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies – and Petter Solberg, making it fitting that the latter was on-hand to help celebrate his former co-driver in Deeside. The 2003 World Rally Champion is similarly being honoured at the event as this year’s ‘Rally Legend’.
After hanging up his co-driving helmet, Gallagher went on to work with the FIA Rally Safety Group and in 1996 was appointed Clerk of the Course on Rally GB – a position he has held to this day.
At today’s traditional pre-event press conference, he was presented with a special collage by Solberg, featuring images of the winning crew from every edition of Rally GB over which he has officiated. The Norwegian triumphed on four of those events – in consecutive years between 2002 and 2005 – the most of any driver under Gallagher’s watch.
“Ben Taylor [Managing Director of Wales Rally GB] has done a great job and has taken this event even beyond where it was 20 years ago,” Gallagher remarked. “It has brought it back and surpassed the levels from before and I’m proud to have played a small part.
“Wales Rally GB has evolved massively and it’s as big a challenge as it’s ever been, but it’s a different challenge today. Its home here in north Wales has been brilliant; Wales has embraced the event to the full and I can’t see why it would go anywhere else.
“The highlights have been working with such a great team. The rallies you often remember are the ones where things go wrong, as that’s when you see how people respond. Our team has done that in the face of adversity, remaining strong and united and performing against the odds in difficult times. I’m obviously going to miss everybody, but motor sport will remain in my life as I start a new chapter in historic rallying.”
Solberg’s first event as a nominated points-scorer for Ford came on the 1999 Safari Rally – also his first event alongside Gallagher. The 2003 World Rally Champion remembers it clearly to this day.
“Fred has been a very important guy throughout my career,” he acknowledged. “The first thing to say is that I was crying after the shakedown on the Safari that year. Fred got me safely through the event and we finished fifth, with my team-mate Colin McRae winning – I recall the party afterwards in the pool very well!
“It was a pleasure to have him in the car during the first part of my career and we had some fantastic times. Of course, he has also gone on to do a wonderful job as Clerk of the Course at Wales Rally GB, and he deserves all the plaudits he’s received.”
Taylor was similarly present to pay tribute to Gallagher, praising the way in which he artfully transferred his keen eye for detail and excellent analytical skills from the cockpit to the organisational side of the sport.
“Those who have been around rallying for a lot longer than I have will know the name Fred Gallagher very well,” he reflected. “To give you a full biography of Fred’s remarkable and lengthy career would take forever, such are his achievements. We also looked at inviting everyone who drove with Fred over the years, but that would have required a full Boeing 747!
“This is his 20th and final Wales Rally GB as Clerk of the Course, but it will not be the end of his involvement in motor sport. Fred has been around for Wales Rally GB’s many incarnations over the years and played a huge part in its successes, so it’s only fitting that we mark this incredible milestone and wish him all the best in everything he does in the future.”
Following the conclusion of this weekend’s Wales Rally GB, Gallagher’s role will be assumed by Deputy Clerk of the Course and British Rally Championship Manager Iain Campbell (CofC for Mull Rally for past 3 years).
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