“The reason for the move is simple - the benefits of a city centre location are difficult to ignore,” explained WRGB boss Andrew Coe. “Swansea Council is creating a stunning waterside development that will add a touch of glamour to the service park for 2007. Of course, enabling rally fans to take full advantage of all of Swansea’s attractions will give the rally that extra bit of excitement and buzz. But the main driving force behind the move is to offer a service park that is more accessible to encourage those people who would perhaps not usually think about travelling out of town to watch a stage to come and see the stars of international motorsport right on their doorstep.”  

The use of the waterfront complex as Wales Rally GB’s service park location is expected to significantly boost Swansea’s profile both nationally and internationally, establishing it as an important city location for future sporting events.

The attractive Swansea SA1 Waterfront site, which is transforming the East docklands of Wales’ second city, will be used for business, housing and leisure as well as attracting sport to the city and will require £400m of funding over the next 10-15 years. It is based on a 40 hectare prime waterfront site acquired from British ports. The waterfront’s impressive architecture and innovative image demonstrates Swansea’s position as a city of the 21st Century.

Chris Holley, Leader of Swansea County Council, said: “There is growing confidence about Swansea and this really is Swansea’s time to attract new investment.”

18th September 2007

For more information please contact:

John Horton, National Press Officer.
Telephone: 0121 378 2828.
Mobile: 07778 282899.
E-mail: media@walesrallygb.com

or

Paul Evans, Regional Press Officer, Wales
Telephone: 029 20 38 30 88
Mobile: 07710 74 31 67
E-mail: paul.evans@goodevansco.com

Notes for Journalists:
 
Wales Rally GB is the UK round of the 16-round FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). It is one of only six events that have retained their unbroken World Championship status since the WRC was established in 1973.

Cardiff first hosted the event in 2000 and the Welsh Assembly Government has been the title sponsor of Wales Rally GB since 2003.

Wales Rally GB is held annually and is the UK’s biggest motor sport event. It is organised and promoted by International Motor Sports Ltd (IMS), the commercial arm of the Berkshire-based Motor Sports Association (MSA), the governing body for all UK motor sport.

This year's Wales Rally GB will be the 75th Anniversary of the event.

Since its inception in 1932 the rally has been run 62 times; this year’s event will be the 63rd edition. Enforced stoppages have included World War 2, Suez Crisis (1957) and Foot and Mouth (1967).

No “Overall Classification” was produced until 1953 when the event finished in Hastings and was won by Yorkshire husband-and-wife Ian and Pat Appleyard in a Jaguar XK120.
 
WRGB is also the sixth and final round of the 2007 Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship and the eighth and final round of the 2007 FIA Production World Rally Championship.
 
2007 is the first year that the prestigious SA1 Swansea Waterfront development at Swansea Bay will be used as the service park. The current population of the City and County of Swansea now stands at 226,400, the third highest population of the 22 Welsh Unitary Authorities.

Tickets for this year’s Wales Rally GB are available from 0870 060 1764 and on-line at http://www.walesrallygb.com/