PURCELL GRABS PIRELLI WELSH RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP VICTORY
Irish crew Andrew Purcell and Martin Brady made a very late call to contest the Plains Rally (Saturday May 17) in their Ford Fiesta Rally2 and came away with an event victory and maximum points in the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship.
As forest rallying made a very welcome return to Wales, the sun bore down on the stages of Alwen, Aberhirnant and Dyfnant to deliver a fast and very dusty rally for the second round of the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship.
Purcell only decided to contest the event three days before as he sought further seat time and was a late registration for the PWRC. Despite struggling to find the right pace for the event, Purcell finished the day 10 seconds up on the similar Fiesta Rally2 of Liam Clark and Jack Morton, as Clark moved into the overall lead in the PWRC points.
Clark suffered a diff problem in the first run of Dyfnant, which he reckoned cost him around 10 seconds. The fact that Purcell's winning margin was also 10 seconds means that it could have been very close at the end of the day. Into a fine podium position came James Giddings/Aled Davies (Mitsubishi Lancer E9: Fordpad/Tandom/MetDem), after a typically storming drive while next in the Welsh points were historic contenders Dan Mennell/John Roberts (Mennell Motors/Pirelli/Speedline) who had a tremendous day despite Mennell injuring his wrist when it was caught in the steering wheel. A bag of frozen peas, bought from a small village shop on a road section, helped get him through to the finish.
Back in the four-wheel-drive section of the rally, David Tomlin/Keith Ashley (Ford Fiesta R5: Axon Commercial Catering Equipment) and Bob Morgan/Adrian Williams (Skoda Fabia R5: Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford) had a wonderful battle that was only settled on the final stage when Tomlin edged ahead by a single second after a great performance from both crews.
Half a minute back from them came Wug Utting/Bob Stokoe (Subaru Impreza: Utting Estates/Geoff Jones (Wales) Motorsport) while Jonathan Jones/Osian Owen had a good debut forest run in their Mitsubishi Lancer E10 to chase Utting home.
Finishing well on his gravel rally debut was Rob Morris with Paul Spooner alongside. This was only Morris's third rally after making the switch from off-road motorsport and he loved every minute of learning about his new Citroen C3 Rally2 in the forests. Wrapping up the PWRC scorers in Class 1 were Colin Minton/Jordan Joines (Ford Fiesta R5) and Paul Lomas/Mark Leader (Ford Fiesta R5: Plant Speed Ltd).
Giddings/Davies were clear winners in Class 2 from Jones/Owen while PWRC points were claimed by Peter Baylis/Paul Godden (Mitsubishi Lancer E9: Artificial Lawn Company), Rob Aslett/Ashley Aslett (Subaru Impreza) and Geoff Cottrill/Nathan Crewe (Mitsubishi Lancer E9: Cottrill Transport).
Andrew Fox/Jaime Lee-Fox (BMW 325: Fitzgerald Plant Services/ Severnside Defibs & Training) had a strong run in tough conditions to claim Class 3 but only by 48s from David Jones/Glyn Price (BMW E30), while Utting/Stokoe topped Class 4.
Riley Chester/Steve Davey (Ford Fiesta R2) continued their impressive season as Chester bagged more important PWRC points towards the M-Sport Under 25 Award.
Lee Robinson/Daniel Robinson (Ford Fiesta) were next up in Class 5 among the PWRC contenders.
A fine Class 6 victory went to Geoff Phelps/Colin Jenkins (Ford Escort Mk2: Cherry Rock Ltd/Dave Jenkins Motorsport). Next up were Jeremy Harris/Alexandra Harris (Kilcot Garage Ltd/PJW Construction/Gurneys Family Butchers) and Tim Phelps/Peter Wilson (Britpart) while Paul Gorge/Harriet Worth did well to guide their Mazda MX-5 though some demanding stages.
Martin Walters/Marie Fletcher (Honda Civic: Digger Parts Direct) had a very good day to scoop maximum PWRC points in Class 8 while a strong PWRC contingent in Class 9 finished in the order of Geraint Williams/Liam Jones (Vauxhall Nova: Gwynedd Skip and Plant Hire/GW Services/RG Hire Ltd/Ceir Seiont Cars/T D Plant Hire/Carafannau Ham), Adam Booth/Daniel Granger (Vauxhall Corsa), Dominic Hodge/Brian Cammack (Humphris Motorsport) and Joel Lewis/Jamie Mills (Peugeot 106: Bucknell Auto Services).
With a strong historic field for the event, notable class performances for PWRC points included those from the Ford Escorts of Chris Hellings/Glyn Thomas (Flat Crest), Hywel Davies/Sion Rowlands and Peter Hinton/Glenn Mercer (Yorkshire Garden Maintenance/Rallynuts), while the Volvo 244 of Darrell Denning/Alex Lewis (Genuine Cars and Classics/J&S Handling) topped Class H7 in style.
The pace in Class H8 was intense and leading the PWRC chase of Mennell were Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons (Allglass Anglia), Rudi Lancaster/Guy Weaver and Robert Gough/Jack Bowen, with Gough dropping time in the early stages with a puncture.
Gareth Bevan/Craig Nelson (Freemans Bodyshop) were next up in H8 while a quartet of PWRC contenders battled all day in Ford Escorts and finished in the order Ron Morgan/Jordan Jones, Jeremy Wells/Martin Saunders, Lyn Davies/Aled Richards (57 Tyres) and Peter Jones/Gareth Davies. Finally, the Peugeot 205GTi of Paul Clayton/Veera Johnson (Retro, Race and Rally/PD Extinguishers) won Class H11.
Two young contenders from this year's championship will win a fabulous chance to work with the M-Sport World Rally Championship team as a weather crew on Rally Japan later this year.
The top scoring under 25 driver and co-driver after the Nicky Grist Stages on July 12, will have a unique opportunity to see how the M-Sport team works on an event, the chance to learn from team professionals and meet the current M-Sport drivers and co-drivers. Accommodation with the team and travel whilst at the event is included so the lucky pair will only need to cover their flight costs to Japan.
Awards within the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship include the David Stokes Historic Challenge award for drivers and the Guy Weaver award for co-drivers, Hockly Motorsport awards for 2WD and 1400cc and the 57 Tyres Welsh Challenge for drivers and co-drivers who have not finished in the top 10 overall on any round of the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship or any equivalent status championship event. The Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship remains dedicated to helping develop young rally talent and with the support of OnThePaceNote and Restruct, the under-25 category continues to grow.
The remaining schedule for the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship is:
3 Jul 12 Nicky Grist Stages
4 Aug 30 Woodpecker Stages
5 Oct 25 Cambrian Rally
6 Nov 8 Wyedean Rally
Championship registration is now open and is available via: https://wnrc.wamc.org.uk
Issued by Paul Lawrence on behalf of the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship. Tel 07778 547918. For enquiries about the championship, please contact Bryn Pierce via e-mail:
