Rally event to give 'insight' into World Championship plans
· Yahoo Sports
A rally event in Aberdeenshire will give a "good insight" of what to expect when the World Rally Championship (WRC) comes to the region next year, according to organisers.
The Grampian Forest Rally starts in Banchory on Friday and forms part of the British Championship.
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It has also attracted some drivers from the WRC, including current points leader Elfyn Evans, who will be keen to try and get a feel for what could lie in store next year, with stages still to be announced.
WRC stages will be held in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, and Moray for three years, at a cost of £1m per year but it is thought the economic benefits could run to tens of millions of pounds.
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Ahead of the event in Banchory, Colin Clark, event director at Motorsport UK, which runs the British Rally Championship, said some big names would be getting a feel for the region.
"We have got quite a cast of drivers from the WRC that are here," he added.
"They are going to be getting a little bit of familiarisation with some of the stages they will be utilising next year.
"This is a national rally so it is a good deal shorter than a round of the WRC however the stages will be fast, flowing, they will be very indicative of what the drivers can expect next year."
Earlier this year it was announced that the WRC would be returning to the UK for the first time in nearly a decade, with the north east of Scotland hosting a round – from 2027.
The inaugural WRC Rally Scotland will be headquartered in Aberdeen and contested in the forests of Aberdeenshire and Moray for the next three years.
'Watching closely'
Aberdeen City Council pushed to host the major event after the success of last year's Tall Ships races in the city.
P&J Live will be the main event hub.
The stages have still to be announced, while the date has also yet to be confirmed although it is expected to be allocated an autumn slot.
Clark said the WRC was quite a complicated event to put together with work ongoing to get everything ready for the event which would be "huge" for the region.
"We will be watching closely as to how these drivers are performing on the stages and then we have a good insight as to the sorts of areas that we would like to be taking the rally next year across Aberdeenshire and in to Moray as the route is coming together," he said.
"We are putting together ideas for stages as we speak, we are doing some reconnaissance of some of them this week."