Scottish pair Colin R Smith and Craig Chapman will skip Rallye Sanremo later this month in order to be fully prepared for their home round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, RACMSA Rally of Scotland, which takes place from 15-17 October.
They had planned to contest the Italian asphalt round as part of their four-event IRC 2WD Cup campaign in a Honda Civic Type-R. However, they will now undertake a testing programme in order to boost their chances of class victory on the Perth-based gravel event next month.
“We’re going to put all resources to ensure a great result on our home event and going to Sanremo would have compromised this effort,” said Smith, who now hopes to save enough budget to contest the IRC season-closing FxPro Cyprus Rally from 4-6 November.
“If we keep going as we are we hope to find the budget to get out to Cyprus to ensure a fair chance of the championship,” added Smith.