Belfast: MG ZR preview

MG ZR duo take to the Emerald Isle.

Two MG ZRs will compete in the penultimate round of the Pirelli British Rally Championship this weekend in Ulster. One will be driven by former champion Gwyndaf Evans and the second car by MG Rover Group employee Rob Stone.

Gwyndaf's co-driver Chris Patterson lives on the doorstep of one of the stages and is therefore pretty familiar with the ground he'll be covering. Chris explains: "This is well and truely my home rally. I've just moved house and it's only a couple of miles from one of the stages. I'm really hoping we give a good show in the MG."

Under the guidance of Ulsterman Chris, Gwyndaf is looking forward to returning to the tarmac-based stages in the MG ZR Super1600. He said: "I've won the Ulster Rally twice before so I'm really excited to be going there in the MG ZR. It's also my favourite place as the atmosphere is terrific."

The second car, an MG ZR 1.8 litre Group N, is entered by Rob Stone of Team Spirit. He returns after its trophy winning performance in the National Tarmac Championship in Wales. It'll be the first time that the team will experience night stages. Rob comments: "This will be a whole new experience for the team as we will need to employ the lamp-pods to illuminate the roads. The pace notes will have to be perfect for these dark stages where any slight error will almost certainly mean an off-road excursion!"

MG Team Spirit is a Company initiative, aimed at encouraging enthusiastic employees to race and rally MG Rover Group products.

Their mission is to show to the motorsport world and the general public how competitive MG Rover products are against the best of the world's manufacturers' vehicles in the arduous conditions of motorsport. All members of MG Team Spirit build and prepare the vehicles in their own time with technical support from MG Rover.

The rally commences on Friday 6 September from Belfast with prizegiving on Saturday 7 September. The latest results can be found on www.brcweb.co.uk/results.

-mg-