By Paul Evans

Thirteen Welsh drivers are making the trip across the Irish Sea for this weekend’s Wexford Volkswagen Stages Rally – led by Steve Wood, who is looking for his third event victory in a row.

Co-driven by Limerick’s Keith Moriarty, Wood won a thrilling contest last year and, having also won in 2016, starts at number one in a powerful four-wheel drive Subaru Impreza WRC S11.

John Dalton has been rallying in Ireland for almost 30 years and last time out he finished second on the Raven’s Rock Rally. He returns to Wexford this weekend in his familiar Darrian T90 GTR – similar to the one also driven by Tony Rees.

Meirion Evans makes his first appearance in the Melvyn Evans Motorsport Hyundai i20 R5, Ian Davies drives a BMW M3 and William Mains appears in his rapid 1400cc Vauxhall Nova. Tomas Davies, Adrian Davies, Gareth Lloyd, Llyr Jones, Wyn Hughes, Aled Davies and Peter Lewis all drive various tail-happy Ford Escort Mk2s.

So strong is the Welsh entry that S4C is sending a camera team to the event for a feature on its popular Ralio programme.

Run close to Rosslare Harbour, this weekend’s Wexford Rally contains three stages run three times on Saturday and two stages run three times on Sunday, totalling around 125 stage miles.