LATEST Vauxhall Astra Formula 2 kit car makes its debut this weekend on the penultimate round of the 1999 British Rally Championship (BRC), the all-asphalt Stena Line Ulster Rally (July 29/30).
It could give Neil Wearden his best chance yet of glory this season, his first as a works driver with Vauxhall. He also hopes his Ulster-born co-driver Trevor Agnew will bring him some of the luck of the Irish with him as well as valuable local knowledge.
Following a successful test session with the new Wirral-made Astra in Eire last week, and Wearden's impressive performance on the first all-Tarmac BRC round in Scotland earlier this month (the Jim Clark Memorial Rally), both Lancashire-based Wearden and Agnew, of Markethill, Co Armagh, believe they will be right up there with the leaders this weekend.
Says Wearden: "With this new car we have the potential to do even better than we did on the Jim Clark Memorial Rally, where we finished fifth. It's the latest development model, and after the test we had last week, I feel pretty positive we'll do well."
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