Supercars bannes in Britain

The RAC MSA has bitten the bullet and banned the big Group A supercars from rounds of next year's Mobil 1/Top Gear British Rally Championship.

With the exception of Group N cars which will chase their own Production Cup, championship events will be open only to cars eligible for the championship - two-litre, normally aspirated, front-wheel drive cars.

RAC MSA Chief Executive John Quenby explained: 'It was always our intention to achieve a situation where British Championship events were run exclusively for two-litre cars so that the outright winner also scores points. This will make the championship much easier to understand and even more attractive to manufacturers, drivers, sponsors and media.'

The Ulster Rally may apply for a waiver, for 1997 only, as it is still under contract with the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship. If that happens then drivers of registered Irish series cars will also be permitted to take part.

The Manx Rally will remain a co-efficient 20 round of the 1997 European Rally Champion-ship, but Euro contestants and Irish series crews will have a separate event.

The loss of the big cars will hardly affect entries. This year the Manx had the best class A8 entry with 10 cars, Ulster the worst at four.

The championship will retain its current five events but two, the Pirelli International and the Ulster Rally, will be split to take scoring opportunities up to seven, with points allocated at the end of each leg. The RAC is looking to add an event for 1998 and will be assessing candidates over the 1997 season.