British Rally Championship leaders Jonny Milner and Nicky Beech take their Team Dynamics Pro Rally Toyota Corolla WRC to Belfast this weekend for the Ulster International Rally.

Gearbox problems on the final day of the recent Manx International Rally prevented Milner, based in Huggate in East Yorkshire, from an all-out assault on eventual winner Manxman Mark Higgins.

With Milner struggling to the rally finish with only third gear and into third place overall, the gifted Yorkshireman will be going all out for a maximum points haul on the Belfast-based rally to make up for the disappointment.

And while Milner will be looking to win the rally outright in his Corolla WRC, team attention also turns to Super 1600 category leader Justin Dale, who is now Milner's closest rival for the Championship title.

Super 1600 cars are also capable of scoring the same points as their 4WD Turbo-charged counterparts, so works Peugeot 206 driver Dale is now in a strong position for the championship title after recent maximum points scores.

Milner, however, looks set to battle hard with the best Irish tarmac drivers around on the undulating country lanes of Northern Ireland and he was confident that he will be able to produce yet another top- notch performance in the PBRC.

The determined Huggate man with Welsh co-driver Beech alongside have been the stars of the Pirelli British Rally Championship thus far.

Declared Milner: "All I'm concerned about is getting maximum points.

"Our performance on the Isle of Man showed that we are capable of setting the pace on tarmac stages and I'm very happy with the car's performance on the tarmac as well.

"We've recently had a gearbox and differential rebuild so I'm confident that the car is in good shape for the event.

"On the Manx Rally we had excellent tyres from Pirelli so we were able to pull time away from Mark (Higgins) when the conditions were very changeable. This could be crucial in Ulster. "

Added Milner: "As for Justin, there's nothing we can do about him.

"We have to hope that the other Super 1600 drivers can take points away from him, which will strengthen our position in the championship.

"Going back to our category, I'm sure that Andrew Nesbitt and Derek McGarrity will be flying in Ulster as Irish tarmac is what they know best.

"I've competed on these roads before and I'm very confident that we'll be able to challenge them in our Team Dynamics Pro Rally Toyota Corolla WRC."

From the fast and furious tarmac of Ulster, the series will next arrive in the Yorkshire forests, the area local to Milner.

Then it will be all eyes on the local boy as Yorkshire's finest returns to his native forests for a very popular homecoming on the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire at the end of September.

Updated: 12:10 Thursday, September 05, 2002