British rally fans, the waiting is over. The world’s finest World Rally Championship cars and drivers are bound for the United Kingdom once more. It’s time for Goodwood and the Festival of Speed.
For the first time in years, all three WRC manufacturers are attending the four-day event in the south of England. Defending champion Toyota fields a GR Yaris Rally1 and its all-new GR Yaris Rally2 for Croatia Rally winner Elfyn Evans and team principal Jari-Matti Latvala to drive.
Thierry Neuville and Esapekka Lappi are inbound for Hyundai’s i20 N Rally1 while 2019 world champion Ott Tänak fires up the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid.
Ford’s current gen world championship challenger is, of course, no stranger to the Festival – the car, albeit in a very early developmental stage, was given its public debut at Goodwood two years ago. Adrien Fourmaux drove it that day and will drive it again across the weekend.
Tänak and Fourmaux aren’t the only M-Sport stars taking the wheel though, with managing director and 1994 British Rally champion Malcolm Wilson making a rare appearance in the driver’s seat on Saturday.
The WRC stars will run up the all-asphalt hill, with some making it onto the gravel of the Hannu Mikkola-designed Forest Rally Stage, much to the delight of the thousands of fans who love to live between the trees for four days on the South Downs.
As it was last year, DirtFish will be very close to the heart of the Festival of Speed’s rally element, with owner Steve Rimmer bringing some of the most special cars in his collection to the event.
A Peugeot 205 T16, Ford RS200, Ford Escort RS1600, Fiat 131 Abarth, Subaru Legacy RS, Subaru Impreza WRX and Nissan Sunny F2 have all been wheeled out of the stunning BGMsport stable where Ian Gwynne lovingly maintains them.
With the right cars and the right preparation, we need the right drivers and with Max and Alister McRae joining a Rimmer crew which includes James, Josie and Steve, we’re in for a treat.
The Festival fun doesn’t end there though, with Sébastien Loeb driving the Lancia Delta Evo-e RX he’s using in World RX and our friends from Subaru Motorsports USA once again wheeling out the outrageous Gymkhana GL Wagon for Travis Pastrana, there’s going to be no end of action on the hill.
