News from the Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship
Tuesday, November 4, 2025
PIRELLI WELSH CHAMPIONSHIP DECIDER IN THE FOREST OF DEAN
The Forest of Dean will host the final round of this year's Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship on Saturday 8 on the Wyedean Stages Rally and there could be a winner-takes-all battle for the overall title.
As the event marks 50 years of the rally organised by the Forest of Dean Motor Club, the notoriously tricky stages will welcome a capacity entry of cars, including around a third of the total entry from contenders in the Welsh championship.
From a base at Ross-on-Wye, the crews will tackle seven stages over roads that can be slippery and narrow in places and the final destiny of this year's Welsh title will be decided by the time the crews return to Ross-on-Wye at around 4pm on Saturday.
To complicate the title permutations, leading contender Liam Clark in his Ford Fiesta Rally2 was still showing on the reserve list at the time of writing. However, if he can secure a place on the entry, Clark knows that he has to beat his arch rivals Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear in their Delta Salvage/Witham Motorsport Skoda Fabia R5 if he is to win the title.
Alternatively, if Hirst and Dear take maximum championship points on Saturday, they will win their fourth straight Pirelli Welsh championship title. With the best four scores from six rounds Hirst and Dear have rocketed into contention over the second half of the season with maximum scores on the Nicky Grist and Cambrian rallies and points for second place to Clark on the Woodpecker Rally.
These are stages that Hirst knows well as he has won the last four editions of the rally. Conversely, if he makes it on to the start list, this will be Clark's first time tackling these special stages.
Though they cannot now win the overall title, strong contenders for the final overall championship podium will be James Giddings and Aled Davies in their Fordpad/Tandom/MetDem Mitsubishi Lancer E9 after a fantastic season.
However, a dark horse for the event will be Nic Elsmore and Pauline Nash, who step up to a Skoda Fabia R5 for the first time. Elsmore has an impressive record on his local event and has won it twice in his Mitsubishi Lancer E9 so his pace in the R5 will be watched with great interest.
Other contenders in the class for Rally2 and R5 cars include the Skoda Fabia R5 of locals Bob Morgan/Adrian Williams (Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford) and the Citroen C3 Rally2 of Rob Morris/Paul Spooner (RMG Groundworks). The Ignition Motorsport Ford Fiesta R5 of Colin Minton/Jordan Joines is another Class W14 entry and back after a recent sporting foray to Italy will be David Tomlin and Keith Ashley (Ford Fiesta R5).
Chasing Giddings in the class for non-Rally2/R5 four-wheel drives will be the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Peter Baylis/Paul Godden (Artificial Lawn Company), the Subaru Impreza of Rob and Ashley Aslett and the Mitsubishi Lancer E9 of Geoff Cottrill and Nathan Crewe. Hywel Davies and Sion Rowlands step up to join the class in a Subaru Impreza.
Andrew Fox/Jamie Lee-Fox have the upper hand in the over two-litre Class W12 in their BMW 325 but will need to fend off fellow BMW crew David Jones and Glyn Price to be sure of the class title.
Among the two-litre Class W11 cars, Ford Escort pair Geoff Phelps and Colin Jenkins are now secure as class champions for the year but have plenty of opposition on the event from Tim Phelps/Peter Wilson (Britpart Ford Escort Mk2), Jeremy and Alexandra Harris (Kilcot Garage Ltd/PJW Construction/Gurneys Family Butchers Ford Escort Mk1) and Mike Brown Snr/Nikola Brown (BMW E36 Compact).
Martin Walters and Marie Fletcher have had a fine season in Class W10, for the up to 1600cc cars, in their Digger Parts Direct/Tegiwa Honda Civic and head to the Wyedean in search of another class win over rivals Andrew Hussellbee and Alex Lewis in the unique rear-wheel drive Peugeot 306.
Favourite for glory in Class W9 for the top historic cars is the Ford Escort Mk2 of Ben friend and Cliff Simmons, although even a win would not be enough for them to take the title in the championship. Charles Hopkinson/Alan Jones and Lyn Davies/Aled Richards are the rivals for Friend.
Gary Smith and Clive Jones are set to secure Class W8 in their Ford Escort Mk1 while Peter Hinton has already done enough to settle Class W7 in his Ford Escort Mk2. On Saturday, Paul Clayton and Veera Johnson (Retro Race and Rally/PD Extinguishers Peugeot 205 GTi) and Darrell Denning/Luke Palmer (Genuine Cars and Classics /J&S Handling Volvo 244GL) will contest the division. Colin Evans and Megan Williams look set to take another Class W3 success in their BMW 318 Ti but face the Peugeot 206 GTi of Lewis Davies and Tom Wood.
In the 1400cc class Joel Lewis and Jamie Mills are aiming to complete a perfect season of class wins in their Peugeot 106 XSi while the same applies in the one-litre division to the flying Humphris Motorsport Nissan Micra of Dominic Hodge and Brian Cammack.
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:
