The 138.com Rally Isle of Man has retained its place in the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship, despite fears that it would be dropped.

Series bosses were forced to review the rally’s position after a number of issues on both the 2016 and 2017 editions of the island’s premier four-wheeled motorsport event.

September’s event was criticised by the championship and its leading competitors following significant delays throughout and a driver revolt at the start of one particular stage.

But John Gill, chairman of Rally of Man, confirmed that changes put in place following a review process have satisfied BRC manager Iain Campbell, with outline details to be confirmed at the 2018 Autosport Show at the NEC in Birmingham between January 11-14.

With Alan Teare having decided to retire as clerk of the course before this year’s event, his replacement will be Neil Cross, who becomes the first off-island clerk since the event’s earliest years.

Cross was formerly at the helm of the Nicky Grist Stages round of the BRC that ran a one-day gravel, one-day asphalt format, but has lost its place in the calendar for this year.

The looped stages, implemented in 2012 to reduce the footprint of the rally on the island as a whole, will be dropped. These had no suffered no issues until Mark Higgins and Tom Cave led criticism of their use during the 2016 event.

Gill says rumours that the event would also cut the Thursday leg entirely are wide of the mark: ’The rally will still be held over three days, but with the Douglas promenade regeneration set to begin, the side-by-side Villa Marina stage will not be run.

’We have been concentrating on creating a route that gives us the best chance of resourcing the stages. We will still have around 150 stage miles, which crews tell us is about the right amount.’

The BRC has shuffled the calendar for 2018 with the Mid-Wales Stages, Scottish and Nicky Grist rallies all out, to be replaced by the Border Counties Rally and Wales Rally GB as the final round.

Rally Isle of Man will therefore no longer be a double-points scoring round.

The negative press around this year’s edition is said to have lost the rally a return to the Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, with that series having floated the idea to competitors in late summer but ultimately left it out of a recently-confirmed six-round calendar.

That is especially disappointing as agreement had been reached with IoM Steam Packet to tailor ferries to competitors from the Emerald Isle, that has been a long-term factor in their reduced participation.

However, as the event continues to run to FIA international status, it will still be a counter in the FIA Celtic Rally Trophy.