Former Production World Rally Champion Martin Rowe and Rob Fagg team up once again this weekend as they return to the Chinese National Rally Championship that they almost won last year.

The Manx pair have secured a deal to compete for the KST Ralliart Mitsubishi team, for whom they narrowly missed out on lifting the teams’ title. Martin won two rounds of the series, but a retirement on the final event cost them, and with non-Chinese drivers not eligible for the individual drivers and co-drivers crown’s, it’s again the team title that they are chasing this year.

The two-day rally is based in Guiyang, the main city of the Guizhou Province, and it’s the second round of this years’ championship. Rowe and Fagg missed the opening event in March as the teams’ new car, a Mitsubishi Evo 9, was not ready.

The crew travelled out last weekend, and with their journey delayed by a typhoon near the Chinese border they finally arrived in Guiyang 40 hours after leaving the UK.

There was little time for rest however, with Rob reporting on Tuesday, ‘We go straight into a test tomorrow. The car looks good, and first impressions of it are that it is a big improvement on last years older Evo, we just need to work now to get a good set-up ahead of the rally on Saturday and Sunday.’

Once the test is completed it’ll be straight into a ten hour recce on Thursday, though this is one of the events the pair contested last year, which should help with the preparation of pace-notes.

All those preparations have taken on a real importance as the series has seen an influx of high profile drivers. Former world championship regular Alister McRae won the opening round and he returns for this event, as does former British Champion David Higgins, Asia-Pacific champion Karamjit Sningh, and further leading drivers from Finland and Australia as well as China itself.

The rally, an all gravel event, begins with a ceremonial start on Friday evening in the city centre. The real action however takes place from 6am the following morning for the opening five stages, totalling 97 kilometres. The final day starts at 7am for a further four tests covering 69km.

(PICTURE - Martin Rowe)