Clarion back in motorsport with Peugeot's UK rally team

Six years after last sponsoring the Peugeot World Rally Championship team, Clarion GB has again joined forces with the ultra-successful marque, pairing with Peugeot UK in their bid to win the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC).

Peugeot has a great history in rallying and has enjoyed tremendous success in the IRC, with drivers' and manufacturers' titles coming their way ever since joining the series at the outset. This year's punishing 12-round tarmac and gravel rally series takes place across seven countries from January to November. Peugeot is represented by several national teams running the spectacular Peugeot 207 S2000, developed by Peugeot Sport in France.

Clarion's involvement this year follows on from the eight years since 1996 in which they initially supported the 306 Maxi in the French Rally Championship before progressing to become a major sponsor of the immensely successful Peugeot Sport World Rally Championship team, firstly with the Peugeot 206 WRC and then the Peugeot 307CC in WRC colours through to 2005. During their involvement with the Peugeot Sport World Rally Championship team, the series was won outright in 2000, 2001 and 2002. Clarion's involvement also underlines its long-standing relationship with Peugeot as supplier of in-car entertainment products.

The Peugeot UK team is headed by new British pairing of Guy Wilks of Co. Durham and co-driver Phil Pugh from mid-Wales. With a third and fifth place under their belt from the first two rounds at the time of writing, the team are eagerly awaiting the next outing in Corsica (May 12-14), the 'Tour de Corse' - traditionally known as the 'Rally of 10,000 Corners' due to its high frequency of turns.

The Peugeot 207 S2000 Evolution, in which the team is contesting the series, is the latest offering from the most successful manufacturer in the IRC - Peugeot currently has 20 wins to its credit. The S2000 is a standard production Peugeot 207 at heart, but performance is transformed by just a few 'adaptations' including 4-wheel drive, a 2.0 litre powerplant developing 300bhp, and a 6-speed sequential gearbox to deliver electrifying performance.

Commenting on Clarion GB's sponsorship of the Peugeot UK IRC team, General Manager, Graham Case, said: "We are delighted to renew our long and highly successful motorsport sponsorship relationship with the Peugeot marque, and specifically Peugeot UK, with whom we enjoy a mutually-beneficial business relationship in the supply of Clarion audio and multimedia products. We wish the team continuing success in their bid to win the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge."

You can follow the fortunes of the Peugeot 2011 IRC rally team on their web page.