Road repairs row puts brakes on Mid Wales rally section
The opening round of the 2017 British Rally Championship, which was set to be held in Mid Wales, has been cancelled amid uncertainty over the costs of repairing Welsh forest roads.
The championship will instead open with the Border Counties Rally in Jedburgh in mid-March.
The cancellation of the Mid Wales Stages comes amid an ongoing dispute over the fees to rally in Welsh government-run forests.
An independent campaign named Rally4Wales reached a deal with Natural Resource Wales – the government body tasked with taking care of Welsh government forests – to take over repair of the roads late in 2016.
But a misunderstanding over VAT costs means certain clubs, including Mid Wales organising club Newtown & District Automobile Club, will have to pay 20 per cent charges on the road repairs carried out by Rally4Wales.
Rally4Wales and many clubs in Wales are working to alleviate the affects of the VAT rise, but it is thought that the narrow timeframe between now and the Mid Wales event is one of the main contributing factors for curtailing the event.
The rally stage was planned for March 4 and 5 and was originally billed as the opening round of the MSA British Rally Championship.
Offering world famous stages over the Hafren, Myherin and Sweet Lamb forests, the two-day format provided a challenging start to the year for crews of all abilities.
A spokesman from Newtown and District Automobile Club said: "Following a meeting of our committee, it was decided that, due to the current financial uncertainties of running a forest stage event, the difficult decision to cancel the Grooms Garage Mid Wales Stages 2017 had to be made.
"The club would like to thank all the competitors, officials and marshals who have helped to make the event a success over the previous years and wish all the best to the rallying community for 2017."
