The premier motorsporting event in the south of England, the RALLYE SUNSEEKER, will see 115 of our best national rally drivers converging on Bournemouth on Saturday 27th February. The rally is a round of no less than four different championships, including the prestigious Mintex National Rally Series, and the first car away from the start outside Bournemouth Town Hall at 8:00am on the Saturday morning will be the factory-prepared Renault Megane Maxi of defending Mobil 1 British Rally Champion MARTIN ROWE.

The 220-mile event takes in fifteen special stages, timed to the second, totalling seventy-five miles, over which the rally will be won and lost. Martin Rowe's team-mate TAPIO LAUKKANEN will also be out for some pre-season practice prior to the start of this years British Championship and sandwiched between the two Renaults will be the Sunseeker-sponsored Ford Escort World Rally Car of MARCUS DODD who actually led last year's event before an accident forced him out of the running.

Defending Mintex Champion ROGER DUCKWORTH, the son of Keith - one of the founders of the famous Cosworth Engineering concern - is returning in his Subaru Impreza but such is the quality of the entry that any one of the top twenty drivers is well capable of an outright win.

In the Group N 'production' category, ITV Formula 1 pundit TONY JARDINE joins the regulars in his Mitsubishi Lancer and his colleague LOUISE GOODMAN can also be found at the wheel of a Ford Ka. The Rallye Sunseeker is the opening round of the Ford Motorsport Rally Ka Championship and seventeen of the 1300cc cars will be taking the start. Former circuit racer DAVID HENDERSON is contesting the series this year and he starts one place ahead of Boyzone star SHANE LYNCH who has already contested several rallies this year in order to upgrade his licence sufficiently to enable him to enter the Sunseeker.

The entry list also contains thirteen Skoda Felicias - they, too, are taking the opportunity of shaking off the cobwebs before the ever-popular Skoda Trophy begins on the Vauxhall Rally of Wales in a fortnight.

The top twenty entries on the Rallye Sunseeker are as follows:

1 Martin Rowe/Derek Ringer Renault Megane Maxi
2 Marcus Dodd/John Bennie Ford Escort WRC
3 Tapio Laukkanen/Kaj Lindstrom Renault Megane Maxi
4 Roger Duckworth/Mark Broomfield Subaru Impreza
5 ----------
6 Brian Lyall/Alun Cook, Subaru Impreza
7 Andrew Burton/Rob Morgan, Peugeot Cosworth
8 Steve Petch/Peter Croft, Ford Escort WRC
9 Martyn Harrison/Lyn Jenkins, MG Metro 6R4
10 Warren Philliskirk/Eurig Evans, MG Metro 6R4
11 ----------
12 Geoff Smith/Ryland James, Subaru Impreza
13 ----------
14 Steve Hill/Jim Kitson, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO3
15 Ian Gwynne/Shaun O'Gorman, Subaru Legacy RS
16 Kenny McKinstry/Noel Orr, Subaru Impreza
17 Brian Bell/Paul Spooner, Ford Escort WRC
18 Steve Hendy/Mark Milton, Ford Escort Cosworth
19 Vince Wetton/Joff Haigh, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO4
20 David Appleby/Nick Down, MG Metro 6R4

Press Officer: Andrew Haill. Tel: 0121 313 1416 Fax: 0121 313 1105
Rally Office: The Old Bakery, 55A 8elmont Road, Wallington, Surrey SM6 8TE

Organised by Southern Car Club Ltd. and Croydon & District Motor Club Ltd., Round 1 of the Mintex National Rally Championship 1999.
Patron: The Earl of Normanton