Nearly 60 crews from the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship will contest round three of the championship, the Nicky Grist Stages on Saturday, July 12.
The Nicky Grist Stages, which runs on classic special stages in the Epynt region of mid Wales from a base at Builth Wells, is the mid-point of this year's Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship as it marks round three of six. With close to 160 entries across the entire event, it is also a strong indicator that forest rallying in Wales is back to very good health after a delayed start to the year due to the damage caused by Storm Darragh.
The entry for the Welsh championship has quality to match the quantity and it is multiple champions Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear who head the front-runners in their Delta Salvage/Witham Motorsport Skoda Fabia R5. Although this is the first time this season they have contested a round of the championship, they still have a chance of adding another title if they can score well across the four rounds still to run.
Fresh from victory in the Sweet Lamb Time Trial, Liam Clark will start the event aiming to seal his place as one of the winners of the M-Sport award for under-25 competitors in his Ford Fiesta Rally2 and will Clark be a prime challenger to Hirst for maximum PWRC points.
Leading the chase of Hirst and Clark will be three rapid Mitsubishi Lancer E9s for Russ Thompson/Stephen Link (GPM/PD Extinguishers), James Giddings/Aled Davies (Fordpad/Tandom/MetDem) and Peter Baylis/Paul Godden (Artificial Lawn Company) along with the Skoda Fabia R5 of Bob Morgan/Adrian Williams (Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford) and the Ford Fiesta R5 of David Tomlin/Keith Ashley (Axon Commercial Catering Equipment).
Making a welcome return to the championship will be Nik Elsmore and Ifan Devine in their CDS Taxis/Calico Interiors Evo 9 and making his second PWRC outing will be rallying newcomer Rob Morris with Rhys Griffin alongside in the RMG Groundworks Citroen C3 Rally2.
The incredibly strong four-wheel drive entry includes Subaru Imprezas for Wug Utting/Bob Stokoe (Utting Estates/Geoff Jones (Wales) Motorsport), Colin Griffiths/Marc Morgan (Cefnsuran Farm Self Catering Holidays) and Martyn Andrews/Steve Greenhill as well as the Ignition Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5 of Colin Minton/Jordan Joines.
Rounding out the four-wheel drive pack are Paul Lomas/Mark Leader (Plant Speed Ltd Ford Fiesta R5), the Subaru Imprezas of Rob Aslett/Ashley Aslett and Arwel Parry/Iestyn Williams, Geoff Cottrill/Nathan Crewe (Cottrill Transport Mitsubishi Lancer E9) and the rare Ford Sierra 4x4 of Ross Clements and Christopher Lear.
Another strong historic field will thrill the fans and it is very good to see Osian Pryce and Phil Pugh leading the pack in their Wales Motorsport Ford Escort Mk2. The former British Rally champion is an ace in Escort Mk2s but will need to push hard to see off the similar cars of Ben Friend/Cliffy Simmons (Allglass Anglia), Rudi Lancaster/Guy Weaver and Robert Gough/Jack Bowen.
The Ford Escort pack is brimming with cars and includes veteran contenders Richard Gough and Les Forsbrook as well as the cars of Ron Morgan/Jodan Joines (Restruct/Wales Motorsport), Charles Hopkinson/Alan Jones, Hywel Jones/Sion Rowlands, Peter Hinton/Ryan Witty (Yorkshire Garden Maintenance/Rallynuts), Peter Jones/Gareth Davies, Neal James/Brian Stubbs, Lyn Davies/Aled Richards (57 Tyres) and Tim Jones/Yvonne Walton (Walton Contracting). Meanwhile, adding variety to the entry is the splendid Volvo 244 of Darrell Denning/Alex Lewis (Genuine Cars and Classics/J&S Handling).
From the Category 2 field, for pre '74 cars, and running in the first group of cars will be the Ford Escort Mk1s of Jonathan Brace/Paul Spooner (Brace's Bread/Dave Jenkins Motorsport), Gary Smith/Clive Jones and Jeremy Wells/Martin Saunders.
The fine PWRC entry run right through the other classes, starting with the over 2-litre division where the BMWs of Andrew Fox/Jamie Lee-Fox and David Jones/Glyn Price take on the thundering Triumph TR7 V8 of Graham Thatcher/Tim Samuel (Pembridge Vehicle Management). Meanwhile, Lee and Daniel Robinson line up in class five in their Ford Fiesta Rally4.
Class 6, for the up to 2-litre cars is always hotly contested and heading the contender will be Liam Griffiths and Robbie Sandford in their very potent Ford Fiesta ST150. Chasing will be the Ford Escorts of Geoff Phelps/Colin Jenkins (Cherry Rock Ltd/Dave Jenkins Motorsport), Tim Phelps/Peter Wilson (Britpart) and Jeremy Harris/Alexandra Harris (Kilcot Garage Ltd/PJW Construction/Gurneys Family Butchers).
Class 7, for the up to 1600cc cars, is another hotbed of competition as the Vauxhall Corsa of Chris Butcher/Jonathan Hawkins (Severnside Defibs & Training) takes on the Honda Civic of Martin Walters/Marie Fletcher (Digger Parts Direct/Tegiwa), the Opel Adam of Oliver Phillips/Barry Young (GPM/Damper Tek) and the Peugeot 306 RWD of Andrew Husselbee/Alex Lewis.
The up to 1400cc division is always fiercely competitive with the Nissan Micras of Dylan Fowler-Bishop/Dan Evans and Ashley Francis-Adams/Mark Ammonds set to rejoin battle with the Vauxhall Nova of Geraint Williams/Ifan Rowlands (Gwynedd Skip and Plant Hire/GW Services/RG Hire Ltd/Ceir Seiont Cars/T D Plant Hire/Carafannau Ham) and the 1000cc Micra of Dominic Hodge/Brian Cammack (Humphris Motorsport). Rounding out this popular class are Adam Booth/Daniel Granger (Vauxhall Corsa) and the Peugeot 106 of Joel Lewis/Jamie Mills (Bucknell Auto Services).
Class 10 for the near standard Rally Start cars will be a battle between the Peugeot 205GTi of Lewis Davies/Tom Wood, the BMW 318 of Colin Evans/Harri Evans (Towy Waste) and the VW Polo of Martin Pendlebury/Lucie Gutteridge (Wilsons Auctions).
At the end of the rally, two young contenders from this year's championship will be announced as winners of 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, 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.
Othe 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:
