MacLeod steps up to BRC for 2012

Young Scottish driver Ruary MacLeod will make the step up to the British Rally Championship for the 2012 season. The 22 year old from Ayr will be partnered with experienced co-driver Paul Beaton and contest the International series in a Ford Fiesta R2.  


For 2012, the BRC has changed to a format whereby only two-wheel drive cars are eligible. This change has attracted the world's fastest young drivers to the championship and Ruary will face a huge challenge when the championship kicks off on the 24th of February at the Bournemouth based Rallye Sunseeker.

"The drivers taking part on Rallye Sunseeker are definitely the quickest I will ever have competed against. I am under no illusions of my experience compared to some of these guys and I just have to start the rally with a realistic approach. It will be my first time making pacenotes and only my second rally in the R2 so I have a steep learning curve ahead of me, but I am looking forward to the challenge. Last year was a very disappointing year for me as I only competed on five rallies and finished two of them, but I'm sure we can bounce back and be competitive this year", said Ruary.

For his 2012 campaign, MacLeod will be supported by DirtFish Rally School which is based in the United States. In the past couple of years, DirtFish has quickly grown to become one of the most popular rally schools in the US and has been used as the testing facility for top drivers such as Ken Block and Travis Pastrana. In 2011, the Rally School also hosted a round of the Global Rallycross Championship. However, even with the support of DirtFish, Ruary currently has not got the budget to do the whole British Rally Championship.

Ruary stated, "I am very gratefully for the support from DirtFish Rally School and I'm sure we can do a great job promoting them to a wider audience. However, I am still searching for a main sponsor for our team. We currently only have half the budget needed for the BRC so I still have a lot of work to do, to try find the funding for year. Until we attract a main sponsor to our team, the car will carry advertising for my Dads company, Royal Aero Group."

To follow Ruary's progress on Rallye Sunseeker, live stage times can be found on the event website (www.rallyesunseeker.co.uk). Also, for more information about DirtFish Rally School, please visit www.dirtfish.com.