YORK could be the base for a round of the second biggest rally championship in Britain.

Negotiations are underway to bring the Trackrod Rally, part of the Mintex National Championship, to a headquarters on the outskirts of the city.

For the last four years the September event, organised by the North Leeds-based Trackrod Motor Club, has set off from Leeds despite all the stages being in the forests of the North York Moors and in Scarborough.

The rally has also been based in Scarborough and Harrogate in previous years but began its life in the late 1970s in the West Yorkshire city.

Rod Parkin, clerk of the course and chairman of the Association of National Championship Rally Organisers (ANCRO) which organises the Mintex series, said: "We have been talking with the Fairfield Manor hotel near York but it has yet to be confirmed that it will be the rally HQ for the event."

The rally takes in stages at Duncombe Park, Helmsley, Cropton and Dalby Forests, near Pickering, and Oliver's Mount, Scarborough.

It is the penultimate event of the seven round Mintex Championship which is second only to the British Rally Championship.

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