JUST two weeks ago, the event regulations were released for the first round of the 2016 MSA British Rally Championship and organisers of the Mid Wales Stages have reported receiving a record numbers of entries.
The re-vamped March 5/6 event has already amassed 60 entrants across the three events which make up this year’s rally, significantly up on levels seen at this point in the Newtown & District Automobile Club organised event in previous years.
The Mid Wales based event provides crews in the MSA British Rally Championship and Defender Challenge by Bowler Motorsport, with a with a tough two-day format across some of the stages used on final round of the World Rally Championship, Wales Rally GB.
Tomley believes that the new look event which includes 25 miles of night stages, has really engaged with both BRC and Clubman competitors, who are all keen to sample some legendary Welsh forest stages.
"It’s really encouraging to see that entry levels are well up on this time in previous years and the excitement is starting to build across the organising committees," said Tomley.
"We have well over 20 entries from the MSA British Rally Championship and many of the names listed so far are in addition to the contenders who have announced their intention to compete in the series, but have not yet placed an entry."
The rally is based at Theatre Hafren in Newtown and kicks off with two stages totalling over 25 miles under the cover of darkness on Saturday March 5. The remaining 43 stage miles are contested on Sunday 6, before the Ceremonial Finish greets the successful finishers back in Newtown.