News

WRC drivers and co-drivers were out in force at the Richard Burns Foundation Charity Auction in Salou, organised by Rallytravel.com.

Over £5500 was raised for the charity with the highlight being a £1000 bid from a guest from China for a replica Sebastien Loeb helmet, kindly donated by the Total Citroen team and signed by the great man himself. 

Fans from around the world bid for a variety of items with 2 lucky guests winning the race to buy tickets to join the organising team behind the scenes in the 'Green Room' with the WRC drivers and teams.

The evening began with PWRC Champion Hayden Paddon whose recently worn driving boots were purchased by Kiwi rally fan Pamela Bayley, who travelled from New Zealand on her own to join the tour group in Spain! The 250 guests present at the Auction were appreciative of MINI boss, and Richard Burns Foundation Trustee, David Lapworth who took to the stage after Hayden to talk about the Foundation's plans for 2012, and of course the exciting progress of the MINI team.

Petter Solberg followed (as effervescent as ever) before the Stobart pairing of Henning Solberg and Matthew Wilson took to the stage. Ken Block auctioned off a variety of items including the actual bonnet from his Rally Argentina WRC Fiesta! We're not sure exactly how the young man from the Borders who bid for the item will get the bonnet back to the UK. But, we expect there to be some eye-watering excess baggage bills on his EasyJet flight home on Sunday evening...

The Abu Dhabi Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen & Jari-Matti Latvala were as popular as ever with the enthusiastic crowd, and helped to raise a substantial amount of money before the evening came to a stunning climax with the appearance on stage of World Champion Sebastien Loeb and Rally de France winner Sebastien Ogier.

Thanks must go to the WRC teams & drivers for their time and contributions, the generosity of the rally fans present on the night, the Rally Travel organising team, and the on-stage hosts for the night Julian Porter and iRally's Colin Clark.

www.rallytravel.com