CA1 Sport Geared Up For Pirelli Carlisle Challenge

Next weekend’s Pirelli Carlisle Rally is the city’s biggest motorsport occasion and, appropriately, among the front runners will be the four car team from Kingstown based CA1 Sport, hoping to extend their lead in the BRC Teams category on their home event. They will be fielding a pair of Skoda Fabia R5s for Dumfries driver, David Bogie and Tom Preston from Earby, Lancs, while two Ford Fiesta R5’s will be piloted by Swedish sensation, Fredrik Ahlin and 26 year old Alex Laffey who will have the benefit of last year’s winning co-driver, Andrew Roughead, calling the bends. Bogie, a former British and 5 times Scottish Champion, won the Pirelli backed rally in 2011 and has made a solid start to this year’s championship campaign while getting used to a new car and is currently lying 3rd in the rankings. Ahlin is new to the British Rally Championship but he has certainly made an impression on the two opening rounds, leading both at some point, he missed out on victory on the Wales based opening round by a mere 17 seconds and then crashed out of the Circuit of Ireland event so will be looking to get back amongst the points and the fast flowing Kielder stages should certainly suit his style. While having a lot of tarmac rally experience, as shown by his strong showing in Ireland, Laffey has experience of Kielder having done the Pirelli Carlisle Rally previously and with the experienced Roughead alongside him will be looking for a strong finishing position. Preston joins the CA1 Sport line up for the Pirelli Carlisle Rally, driving his Skoda Fabia R5, the 35 year old has only driven the car twice but achieved an encouraging 7th place on the recent Somerset Stages Rally, he is treating this year very much as a learning curve as he gets used to the new car. Rally enthusiasts can see the CA1 Sport team and all the other cars in the Pirelli Carlisle Rally at the special Spectator Vantage points located on each stage of the rally.