Pirelli Popularity Means Championship Choice

The fantastic reception which this year’s Pirelli International Rally received has resulted in the Carlisle based event being chosen as the 2nd round of the 2018 Prestone MSA British Rally Championship which means that the rally, organised by the Cumberland Sporting Car Club will be a round of the UK’s premier rally series for a record breaking 27th year, a unique achievement in British rallying history. The Pirelli International Rally has been based in Carlisle, where sponsors Pirelli Limited has a major manufacturing facility, for many years with the rally’s headquarters and main service area now located at the vast H & H Borderway Mart complex, handily located just off the M6 motorway. The revised format of this year’s rally, which featured two laps of the huge Kielder Forest complex, went down a storm with both competitors and spectators as did the rally finish in Brampton town centre where a huge crowd turned out to see the cars arrive and the winners lift their trophies, the town’s main street taking on a carnival atmosphere as it was swamped by excited rally fans. A spokesman for the Pirelli International Rally said, “ We are absolutely delighted to be chosen once again as a round of Britain’s premier rally series, it requires some serious hard work to produce an event of the standard required by a prestigious series but we are fortunate in having a dedicated and enthusiastic team who excel at everything they are asked to do and make sure that the event retains its top level status” A feature of the Pirelli International Rally is the tremendous economic boost that it brings to Carlisle with hundreds of hotel rooms booked up by the competing teams, visiting officials, and the hordes of enthusiasts who follow the event. Many establishments are booked out months in advance of the rally with the cities hospitality trade enjoying a bumper weekend. The 2018 Pirelli International Rally will run over the weekend of 28/29th April 2018.