| FLYING
FINN……………….AND FLYING IN
The entry list for
this weekends Gateshead based Pirelli International Rally has
received a major boost with the late inclusion of Tapio Laukkanen,
the diminutive Finnish star making a late decision to enter the
opening round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship, he will
start at number 11 behind the Subaru of Austin McHale.
Laukkanen will appear
in a Subaru WRC, he is, of course, no stranger to the Kielder
Forest stages having won the Pirelli International Rally outright
in 1999 in a Renault Megane Maxi and last year led the event at
the end of day one only to slip to third place on second leg,
overhauled by both Mark Higgins (Ford Focus) and Jonny Milner(Toyota).
Meanwhile one competitor who will be flying, quite
literally, before the rally even starts is reigning British Touring
Car Champion James Thompson who is contracted to do a days testing
at Thruxton racing circuit on Friday, and then has to make his
way to Gateshead in time to start the rally. Thompson has hired
a helicopter for the 280 mile trip from Hampshire to Tyneside
which is reckoned to take about an hour and threequarters but
there is no margin for delay if the racing star turned rally driver
is to blast off from Gateshead’s Baltic Square on schedule.
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