Rally round-up 13th April to 19th April

• The future of this year’s Wales Rally GB is in doubt after the Welsh Assembly Government withdrew it’s £2.2million a year funding. WRGB is not an actual WRC event in 2010 and the government told the BBC the rally without WRC status was not the type of event it was willing to sponsor. The contract was due to last until 2011 and WRGB Chief Organiser and Chief Executive of International Motor Sports ltd Andrew Coe now plans to sue for breach of contract.
• With just a few days until Rally Argentina the countdown has begun. The entry list list boasts 59 registered crews but only ten of these are World Rally Championship cars, a poor showing. See here for more details.
• J-WRC driver Michal Kosciuszko is heading to Argentina looking to move into the lead of the championship. He’s going into the event level on points with Martin Prokop but only three cars have been entered in the J-WRC category so it shouldn’t be too hard a task for him….Three cars, I know, how pants is that?
• Details of Rally Russia, the fifth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge have been revealed over on Crash.net. The event is due to take place between the 9-11 July and stages are already being prepared. Last year some drivers complained stages were too demanding on cars so organisers are clearly getting ready early this time.
• Somehow Conrad Rautenbach has landed a drive in the French PH Sport operations. Crash.net have reported that the former African champion who now drives for the Citroen Junior Team will compete in the IRC Sata Rally Acores next month. Driving a Peugeot 207 this will be his IRC debut and the first time he has driven a S2000 car competitively. Conrad’s plan is to gain experience of S2000 machinary, well, we all know that will depends on how long he can keep the car on the road and past results how he’s not that good at that at all.
• Fans on Rallyforum are voicing concern over the future of the Tour de Course, one of the most famous rounds on the WRC calendar. The reports aren’t confirmed yet but like the saying goes, there’s no smoke without fire.