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Young rally stars

Search for UK's next rallying superstar

Who is going to follow in the footsteps of Burns and McRae? New programme aims to find out...

Adam Gould
Adam Gould has potential to make it to WRC

By Jonathan Gill

11th December 2007

Life is seldom fair, but British rally­ing has good reason to grumble. Since the World Rally Champion­ship for Drivers was introduced in 1979, there have been 16 title holders. And of those, the only two Brits – Colin McRae and Richard Burns – are no longer with us.

Their absence hasn’t only cast a massive shadow over rallying in Britain. It has also left behind a void of local driving talent at the top level. It’s been more than five years since a Brit last won a WRC round.

McRae, who died in a helicopter crash earlier this year, had retired from top-class action several seasons ago. But there’s little doubt that Burns, who succumbed to a brain tumour in 2005 aged only 34, would still be waving the flag had he been around today.

It isn’t all gloom and doom, though. Burns’ co-driver Robert Reid believes there is some promising British rallying talent out there. And Reid should know, as he’s behind a special British Rally Elite scheme set up by the MSA, the governing body of motorsport in the UK, specifically to develop this country’s most promising rising stars.

“When we started the Elite scheme, we made it clear that we’d uncover one potential future British world champion every eight years – they don’t come along that often,” he said. “But clearly it is more poignant now that Richard and Colin aren’t here.”

The good news is that Reid feels the initiative has unearthed a promising young talent in the shape of 20-year-old Adam Gould – and he has all the right credentials to reach the top. “There are lots of guys who are quite good, but when a true star comes along, it’s really obvious,” added Reid. “I think Adam has the potential to be Britain’s next world champion. But there are a lot of things that can happen between now and then.”

Gould is several years away from even making his debut on the WRC stage – he’s currently competing in a junior Ford Fiesta champ­ionship. In the meantime, British hopes on the global stage rest on the shoulders of current premier league participants such as Matthew Wilson and Guy Wilks.

The former is the son of the Ford team boss Malcolm Wilson, and a graduate of the Elite scheme. He’s just beginning to make his mark at WRC level, having recently come fourth in Japan and seventh in the last round in Ireland.

Wilks was also impressive there, finishing as the top privateer in sixth position. But generally, future world champions have been easy to spot early in their careers, and it’s fair to say neither Wilson nor Wilks has yet marked his card as a true world-beater.

“If either of these guys was the rallying equivalent of Lewis Ham­ilton, I think we would know about it by now,” admitted Reid.

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Adam Gould
Matthew Wilson
Matthew Wilson
Guy Wilks

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