GOULD CHOSEN FOR BFGOODRICH DRIVERS’ TEAM

Prokop231 GOULD CHOSEN FOR BFGOODRICH DRIVERS TEAM

Englishman Adam Gould has been selected for the BFGoodrich Drivers' Team seat on the Rally of Scotland from November 19-21, the final round of this year's Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

The vote means that Gould will drive a Peugeot 207 S2000 prepared by Kronos Racing on the event, identical to the car used by newly-crowned IRC champion Kris Meeke.

Gould was elected with a landslide majority of 10 votes by a committee comprised of 15 voters from the British media, French tyre firm BFGoodrich, Belgium's Kronos Racing - which ran Sebastien Loeb to the 2006 World Rally Championship for drivers - and British motorsport's governing body, the MSA.

This is the latest in a long line of accolades for the 22-year-old Gould, who secured a Pirelli Star Driver nomination in the UK this year, giving him a fully-funded drive on the British Rally Championship in a Group N Subaru Impreza. Gould finished fourth on his first-ever event in a four-wheel drive car and was third on his asphalt debut with the car on the Jim Clark Rally, the third round of the British Championship.

Gould said: "This is unbelievable. It's a dream come true. I have to say a big thank you to BFGoodrich, Kronos Racing, the MSA and everybody who voted for me. It's bizarre and an enormously unexpected privilege that I'm doing a rally in two weeks' time that I didn't think I'd be doing, in a car that has already won the IRC championship this year - and the last two years as well. Like I said, it really is a dream come true for me. Now I'm focussed completely on delivering a strong result in Scotland."

Gould will test the Kronos Racing Peugeot for about 100 kilometres on Monday 16 November in Scotland prior to embarking on the all-gravel Scottish event, based in Stirling, from November 19-21. Having had no testing during his British Rally Championship campaign to date, Gould will be aiming to make the most out of his test run in the Peugeot 207.

Kronos Racing team principal Marc Van Dalen said: "I am very happy to have Adam in the car alongside Kris Meeke. Adam is young and he has plenty of opportunity to develop. It is good for Kris as well have Adam alongside him for his home event: I hope that Kris will be a big brother to him."

Photo: IRC Series