Ludlow Castle Motor Club's Shaun Gardener and Ben Innes 'unlikely' to compete in Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally 2013 (From Ludlow Advertiser)

Ludlow Castle Motor Club's Shaun Gardener and Ben Innes 'unlikely' to compete in Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally 2013

5:00pm Thursday 24th January 2013 in Sport By Ian Morgan

SHAUN Gardener and Ben Innes are ‘highly unlikely’ to be competing in next month’s Team GMF Wyedean Forest Rally.

The Ludlow Castle Motor Club stars finished second overall in the event 12 months ago which paved the way for their second BTRDA Gold Star Championship triumph.

“It is highly unlikely that we will be out in the Wyedean,” said co-driver Innes, from Cleobury Mortimer.

“The car is still away being lightened which involves it being stripped down to a bare shell.

“This is a big job and we don’t expect to be ready until the following event.”

The Wyedean Forest Rally, organised by the Forest of Dean Motor Club, takes place on February 9.

Last February, Gardener and Innes took the runners-up spot in their TNT Tyres Mitsubishi Evo 5.9 after spinning on five of the seven stages and even crashing into a tree.

Gardener said the Forest event’s icy conditions were the worst he’d seen in 26 years of rally driving.

Innes added that the duo also expected to miss the second round of the BTRDA Championship.

“We will probably not do the Malcolm Wilson starting in Cockermouth and instead we will do the Mid Wales Stages in Newtown,” said Innes.