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Analysis: British Rally Championship 'bogey' controversy explained

The British Rally Championship revival hit its first glitch in Carlisle last weekend, with DMACK threatening to withdraw its team and Elfyn Evans lambasting a "joke" rally. JACK BENYON explains

BOGEYS

The controversy centred on the use of 'bogey' times on the Pirelli Carlisle Rally, round three of the new BRC.

MSA sanctioned rallies are not permitted to exceed an average speed of 70mph on a single stage. If a driver completes the stage quicker than that, they receive an average notional time. This is known as beating the bogey - and it happened too often for comfort on the Pirelli.

A LEAD BATTLE LOST?

Of the rally's seven stages, the bogie was beaten on three and on one stage, current WRC2 championship leader Elfyn Evans did so by 27s. Almost half a minute. On Sunday's Blackaburn stage, no fewer than 13 drivers beat the bogey.

A puncture on Saturday cost Evans a shot at a victory that ultimately went to Fredrik Ahln, but being repeatedly pegged back to bogey times prevented Evans from recovering.

"We're just competing to compete, there's no challenge," said Evans. "I may as well give the car back to Ken [Skidmore, Autotek team boss] clean and move on.

"We're here trying to showcase the best of British rallying and this is what happens, it's a joke."

ORGANISERS AT FAULT?

It is generally accepted that rally organisers are responsible for creating a route slower than the 70mph maximum, but the team behind the Pirelli misjuged the speed of the new R5 cars used in the revived BRC.

Speeds in national rallying are higher than ever; the last time cars and drivers this quick were firing through Kielder, it was 2005. And the R5-spec machinery is quicker than a 2005 World Rally Car with the right driver.

Crews and teams reacted angrily to not only the bogey being beaten, but the way the situation was handled.

The organisers released a statement on Saturday evening stating there was nothing they could do post-recce, but when the crews arrived at the service park on Sunday, three chicanes had been added to stages.

Tom Cave's co-driver James Morgan was unhappy with the handling of the situation.

"It wasn't the professional thing to do," he said.

"It didn't help that the chicanes added in were of different character to those seen on the recce.

"You put a lot of work in before the event. It would have been better had they warned us the night before so we could go over video, but we were only told minutes before we had to leave."

WHAT NEXT?

The bogey issue has forced the BRC into a difficult corner. While it doesn't plan rally routes, the impact is on the series' reputation.

Both Evans and IMS chief Ben Taylor have called for the bogey to never interfere in rallies again, and DMACK's future in the championship rests on the problem being solved.

For that to happen, organisers need to take heed of the route mistakes in Kielder. But there is another solution.

Current BRC events run to MSA national standards, but could run as international events.

That would raise the permtted average speed from 70mph to 75mph and give organisers extra breathing room, and with two WRC2 drivers competing for victories there is an argument that the front of the field is already at international event standard.

For further analysis of the 'bogeygate' controversy and full statements from the BRC and Pirelli Carlisle Rally organisers, see this week's issue of Motorsport News

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