Despite no outings since Mull, Cope and Robert Graham & Co Quantity Surveyors backed Fagg are hopeful are a strong result this weekend as they start at number 4.

“Through the winter further work has been done on the car and this can only be of benefit to us and hopefully give us the best from the machinery to hand” explained Rob, “I am really looking to getting back alongside John for the event and hoping we can keep the pace up we had at the end of last year, there’s no reason why not but more importantly continue to enjoy our rallying which seemed to be one of the keys to the Mull pace.”

Despite the event not getting underway until Friday evening, the work starts Thursday morning when John and Rob will rendezvous in the south of the Isle of Man to begin the reconnaissance of the stages, writing all new notes.

“Following a discussion we have taken the decision to write new notes for this event, John having not competed here for a few years it makes sense to do so” explained Fagg, “We hope that this fresh approach will enable us to really commit to the notes with them being so fresh in the mind.”

Despite each day of the event only consisting of three individual stages on each leg, these will be repeated at least twice and three times in some cases to give an overall distance of 106 stage miles. Friday night will see stages in the south of the island with Slieu Whallian, St Marks and an all new Balladoole stage. Saturday will encompass further Manx classics with runs through the Curraghs, over Druidale down to Sartfield and also the fast Staarvey stage. 

Leading the entry is 2011 winner Dave Pattison in his Ears Motorsport Mitsubishi Evo 6, partnered on this occasion by Andy Marchbank. Pattison has rebuilt his car since an accident on last years Manx National Rally and also upgraded to a Sequential gearbox so will start as favourite. 2010 Manx Champion Steve Quine will be next up in his Evo 6 with Richard Skinner on the notes with trails ace Steve Colley and Graham Fargher in another Evo, this time an 8 variant away at three. Cope and Fagg as mentioned are away at four with the first of the two wheel drive cars Martyn Jones and David Radcliffe (Vauxhall Nova) rounding out the top 5.

A 54 car entry should offer great viewing and battles throughout the field, and with MC Video covering it for their Special Stage programme to be aired on Motors TV in the weeks following the event, this is certainly not one to be missed.

Rob is supported in 2012 by Cannon Tech. (Scotland) Ltd (www.cannontech.co.uk), Robert Graham & Co Quantity Surveyors, Synergy IT (www.synergyit.co.im), Cable Design Services (www.cdsl.net), Holton Homes (www.holtonhomes.co.uk), Nicky Grist Motorsport (www.nickygrist.com) and Fastime Stopwatches (www.astopwatch.com)