Monday, November 10, 2025
HIRST AND DEAR CLAIM PIRELLI WELSH CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear wrapped up a stunning season by winning the Wyedean Stages Rally (November 8) to take maximum points in the Pirelli Motorsport UK Welsh Rally Championship and win the overall title for the fifth time.
This was an exemplary performance from Hirst and Dear, who know the tricky Forest of Dean stages well and they won from the front in their Delta Salvage/Witham Motorsport Skoda Fabia R5. They were quickest by a significant margin on the opening Speech House stage and never looked back as they dominated the rally to win by 1m20s. Even though they only contested four of the six PWRC rounds, four big results were enough to secure the championship over rival Liam Clark in his Ford Fiesta Rally2.
Hirst said: "We've pushed in places and had a fantastic day with no problems whatsoever. We always enjoy rallying in the Forest of Dean. We've tried the new Pirelli tyres and they've worked a treat. We knew that a conservative approach would reap the rewards that we needed. But it's always an event that can catch you out quite quickly and we just needed to drive well within ourselves. It's great to cap off the year like this."
With the rally running in warm and sunny conditions and the Forest of Dean looking spectacular in autumnal colours, a big turn-out of spectators and slick organisation from the Forest of Dean Motor Club, this was a great climax to the championship season.
Having sat on the reserve list until a couple of days before the rally, Clark made a late rush to be at the Wyedean for his first taste of these particularly tricky stages, with Harry Stubbs co-driving. "It was like driving on ice," said Liam of the morning loop of stages when he made the wrong call on tyres. With tyres changed and suspension tweaked, things went better in the afternoon but any chance of beating Hirst to the Pirelli Welsh title was gone. Instead, he finished a very worthy second after an excellent campaign.
Third overall from the PWRC ranks was local hero Bob Morgan with Ade Williams alongside in their Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford Skoda Fabia R5 on stages Bob can almost see from his garage business.
Morgan had a fine day despite suffering a collapsed front hub in the morning loop, which left the brake pedal going to the floor. Fortunately, the problem was resolved at service and he kept up his strong pace to take third.
Out of luck was longtime Welsh championship leaders James Giddings and Aled Davies, who went out with a broken gearbox on their Fordpad/Tandom/MetDem Mitsubishi Lancer E9. Nik Elsmore and Pauline Nash, in a Skoda Fabia R5 hired for the event, suffered a broken wheel, which led to further suspension damage and retirement. Initially, Elsmore had been one of those leading the chase of the flying Hirst.
Chasing Morgan was the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Rob Morris/Paul Spooner (RMG Groundworks) as Morris scored his best gravel result to date, while David Tomlin and Keith Ashley (Ford Fiesta R5) took sixth overall after a good day.
Other 4WD finishers from the PWRC ranks included the Subaru Impreza of Rob and Ashley Aslett, the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Geoff Cottrill and Nathan Crewe and the Subaru Impreza of Hywel Davies and Sion Rowlands. Non-finishers were the Ignition Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5 of Colin Minton/Jordan Joines and the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Peter Baylis/Paul Godden (Artificial Lawn Company), which collected a tree but fortunately without harm to the crew.
Andrew Fox/Jaime Lee-Fox took the over two-litre Class W12 with another strong performance in their BMW 325 as fellow BMW crew David Jones and Glyn Price scooped a good finish on what they say will be their last rally.
Among the two-litre Class W11 cars, Ford Escort Mk2 crew Geoff Phelps and Colin Jenkins (Cherry Rock Ltd/Dave Jenkins Motorsport) had a fine day even though on the last stage they lost second and third gears. This cost as much as 30 seconds and dropped them down the overall order a position or two to tenth, but they were still clear of the rest to be the leading two-wheel-drive finishers from the Welsh championship ranks.
Tim Phelps/Peter Wilson (Britpart Ford Escort Mk2) and Jeremy and Alexandra Harris (Kilcot Garage Ltd/PJW Construction/Gurneys Family Butchers Ford Escort Mk1) chased Geoff Phelps in the class but Mike Brown Snr/Nikola Brown (BMW E36 Compact) did not reach the finish.
Martin Walters and Marie Fletcher posted a rare retirement in Class W10, for the up to 1600cc cars, in their Digger Parts Direct/Tegiwa Honda Civic, leaving the way open for Andrew Hussellbee and Alex Lewis to take top points in their Peugeot 306 RWD.
Another notable performance came from Joel Lewis and Jamie Mills in their Peugeot 106GTi in the 1400cc class while Dominic Hodge and Brian Cammack headed the one-litre cars in their Humphris Motorsport Nissan Micra.
In Class W3 for road rally specification cars, Colin Evans and Megan Williams took the spoils in their BMW 318Ti from the Peugeot 206 GTi of Lewis Davies and Tom Wood.
Among the historic crews there was a mighty performance from the Alllglass Ford Escort Mk2 of Ben Friend and Cliff Simmons to get up into the top six overall. Sadly their pace went unrewarded when a broken steering arm on the final stage put them out of the rally. Instead, Charles Hopkinson/Alan Jones showed good pace to see off the similar Ford Escort Mk2 of Lyn Davies/Aled Richards.
Gary Smith and Clive Jones were early retirements from Class W8 in their Ford Escort Mk1 while Darrell Denning/Luke Palmer (Genuine Cars and Classics /J&S Handling Volvo 244GL) also failed to make the finish. Instead, Paul Clayton and Veera Johnson (Retro Race and Rally/PD Extinguishers Peugeot 205 GTi) took maximum points in Class W7.
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.
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:
