Cruttenden ready for two rally championships

Joe Cruttenden will be co-driving a 4 wheel drive Subaru Impreza GrpA in the Scottish Rally Championship this year.

Championship winning Rally Co-driver, Joe Cruttenden, 19, from Newhey, is planning to compete in two major British championships this year.

He will again be co-driving for Matt Griffin from Blackburn in the BTRDA Rally First Championship, which they won their class of in 2009, and also competing in the Scottish Rally Championship with Rally First 1litre championship winner, Lewis Roper, from Cambridge.

Cruttenden said: “This will be my busiest year in the sport since I started rallying in 2006. Not only will I be travelling around England and Wales doing the BTRDA championship, I will be spending a lot of time in Scotland competing with Lewis.

"What will also make it interesting is the difference between the two cars. For the BTRDA we are planning to use the Rallyschool.co.uk 1400cc Lupo that we drove last year, but for the Scottish Rally championship, I will be in a 4 wheel drive Subaru Impreza GrpA prepared by TFRALLYSPORT of Carlisle. This will require me to use a completely different co-driving technique, as the handling and the speed will be so much different."

Cruttenden, currently studying Motorsport Engineering at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston, is now looking towards local firms to provide sponsorship for his season.

He said: "I know we are in a recession, but this would be an excellent opportunity for a local business to support me."

If any businesses feel they can potentially support Cruttenden in his high profile rallying and would like to discuss sponsorship or require any more details about the rally programme, they can contact him via email to joecruttenden@hotmail.com