After difficult opening round of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship (BRC) last weekend, Barnsley rally driver David White will now compete against the best in the world as he contests the Tour De Corse next month.

The two-time Group N National Asphalt Rally champion has made the switch to a Ford Fiesta R2 for 2017 and as well as mounting an assault in Britain’s premier rallying series, the BRC4 driver has aspirations to contest events across the world this season.

The first of these outings will come in the shape of the FIA World Rally Championship qualifying round on the island of Corsica, nestled in the sea off the coast of Italy. MSA Academy co-driver Phil Hall will join White for the event.

Having previously rallied a Subaru Impreza, White is enjoying the challenge of a new car this season and finished runner up in the BRC4 category at the Border Counties Rally in the forests of south Scotland. Despite not being his preferred surface and suffering transmission issues, White was happy with his result on his first ever BRC event.

But asphalt is his forte’ and the challenge of a World Championship event was calling. The Mirage E Cigarettes, F & G Commercials, DAF, Whites Bakery, Speedline Wheels and Pirelli backed driver was lured by the tight and twisty narrow roads and is looking forward to tackling his inaugural WRC event.

“Tour de Corse is a name synonymous with rallying across the world and is right up there with the Monte Carlo and 1000 Lakes” says White.

“I`d looked at doing some WRC rounds and Corsica jumped straight out at me as one of the events I’ve always wanted to do. The dates fitted nicely with our BRC campaign too so I put an entry in and we were accepted. The event is four days long but only has ten stages totalling over 300km so it’s a huge challenge, but a very exciting one”.

But the event is a far cry from anything he has done before.

“I’ve been into Europe and competed on closed road events there, but Corsica is very different. You have a rock face to one side and the sea to another so it’s pretty daunting at first. But a good recce is important and bringing Phil (Hall) on board will help with that thanks to his WRC experience. It’s going to be one of the hardest events I’ve ever done but competing side by side with the best drivers in the world is a real privilege.”

Good luck to David and Phil on their Corsican adventure.