And for the huge 24-stage rally, which unfolds today and tomorrow, these competitors will be joined by a host of Sarnian supporters and others travelling to fulfill official roles.
‘Without them, the ones in the cars would not be able to do it,’ said motoring stalwart John Robert ahead of travelling over in his own official capacity.
Nine of the Guernsey cars will be all-Sarnian affairs, while two will have Jersey co-drivers. This is balanced out by two Guernsey navigators in Jersey cars.
Given that he is co-driving UK star Ed Fossey in the sixth-seeded pairing, Will Rutherford can claim to be the highest-ranked Guernsey entrant.
Paul Trebert, who has Jersey’s Kieran Gregory navigating, is the highest-seeded, though running at No 27, Craig Robert and Chris Guille are going in off the back of a remarkable runner-up placing at their own rally. John Robert knows very well it is not all about the seedings.
‘We’ve got quite a few drivers who could go rather well.’
He emphasised that, on a course as tough as Jersey, it can be a ‘lottery’.
‘Who’s going to win? You don’t know – and that’s if they all get there.’
You need to be logged in to comment. If you had an account on our previous site, you can migrate your old account and comment profile to this site by visiting this page and entering the email address for your old account. We'll then send you an email with a link to follow to complete the process.