HERO Cup announces new calendar for 2013

| 17 Jan 2013

The Historic Endurance Rally Organisation’s new joint venture with the Classic Rally Association has announced its bumper event list for 2013.

Contests counting towards this year’s Cup include the CRA’s Poppy Regularity Rally, Classic Marathon and Rally of the Tests, plus HERO’s London-Lisboa Classic Reliability Trial and Tour, Throckmorton Challenge and Le Jog.

The triumphant team will bag a week-long cruise in the Mediterranean, with the runners-up being treated to a weekend at the 2014 Goodwood Revival, while the third-placed pairing will win an entry on next year’s Throckmorton Challenge.

Joint managing director for HERO Patrick Burke said: “Now that we have joined forces with the CRA, the competition for the Cup will incorporate three CRA events, a real bonus for classic rally competitors everywhere looking to participate in a variety of rallies across the UK and Europe.”

The news comes as EFG International is announced as event sponsor.

Burke said: “EFG International supported last year’s Scottish Malts Classic Reliability Trial and Tour, so it is a real pleasure to welcome them as partners in the HERO Cup.

Scroll below to read the full 2013 calendar.

Pictures: Photo Rastrelli © and Ph. Tony Large ©

The Poppy Regularity Rally, based in Ypres in the Flanders region of Belgium, will be the first qualifying round of this year’s Cup. The rally runs from 15-17 March 15th to 17th 2013 and is a round of the FIA Trophy for Regularity Rallies.  

The London – Lisboa Classic Reliability Trial and Tour, one of Europe’s premiere classic car events, is back after a six-year break with an epic route starting from 27 April - 5 May.

For its 25th anniversary, the Classic Marathon will run from Ypres to Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Italian Dolomites from visiting, along the way, many famous passes used on events in the ’50s and ’60s from 15-21 June.

The HERO Throckmorton Challenge on 12 October at RAF Pershore at Throckmorton will be the fourth qualifying round. Throckmorton is also part of the Historic Rally Car Register's (HRCR) Clubman Championship, a series of events that are held throughout the UK.

The Rally of the Tests will also be part of this year’s HERO Cup, with crews setting off from Chester for four days of rallying in Wales and northern England through to the finish in Harrogate from 31 October – 3 November and, like the Poppy Regularity Rally, will be a round of the FIA Trophy for Regularity Rallies.

The sixth and final qualifying round of the HERO Cup will be Le Jog, one of the toughest classic car rallies in Europe. Drivers will battle against the UK’s most extreme weather conditions on their way from Land’s End to John O’Groats from 7-10 December.