Liam Clark and Michael Gilbey were the stars of the Severn Valley Rally as they claimed victory in the event's Interclub section and netted maximum points on round two of the Pirelli Motorsport UK Welsh Rally Championship (Saturday, April 11).
By every measure, the Severn Valley was a tough event with overnight rain leaving the stages in Sarnau and the Myherin complex slippery. Changeable weather during Saturday threw everything at competitors with rain, snow, hail, thunder, lightning and even some sunshine. Through it all, Clark and Gilbey steered their Ford Fiesta Rally2 to a commanding victory and maximum points after a problem free day.
On behalf of everyone involved in the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship, a vote of gratitude goes to the organisers and marshals who dealt with tough weather conditions and a significant mid-day delay to give everybody the 51 stage miles planned, which included a challenging final 18-mile stage in Myherin.
In Class 10 for the R5 and Rally2 cars, Clark and Gilbey were clear victors with a 40s margin over Dan O'Brien/Rob Fagg (M O'Brien Group-Ford Fiesta Rally2). However, O'Brien was frustrated to have to stop in the final stage after fellow Welsh contenders James Giddings and Aled Davies (Fordpad-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) rolled and temporarily blocked the stage. The Mitsubishi was soon moved, but O'Brien was left to cruise through the stage and take a notional time.
The same stage also claimed James Wilson and Craig Nelson (Road Tankers Armagh/Rigual/Emco Wheaton/Pirelli-Skoda Fabia Rally2) as they went off in the testing conditions.
Up into third in the class came Bob Morgan/Ade Williams (Winner Garage Skoda Cinderford-Skoda Fabia R5) while Paul Bonas/Elgan Davies (Rallynuts Motorsport Ltd-Ford Fiesta R5) and Colin Minton/Izzie Holman (Ignition Motorsport Rally Team-Ford Fiesta R5) both survived the day to finish back in Llandrindod Wells.
Unfortunately, a serious accident befell David Tomlin/Paul Spooner (Axon Commercial Catering Equipment-Ford Fiesta R5) on SS4 and the championship sends Spooner very best wishes for a swift recovery after he was taken to hospital in the aftermath of the accident.
With Giddings out early in the final stage, it was Patrick Naylor/Tom Bishop (Fuchs/GPM/MRF/Bremax-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9) who swept through to win Class nine for the non-R5/Rally2 four-wheel-drive cars, with a 40s advantage over Craig Jones/Elwyn Manuel (CMJ Motors-Mitsubishi Lancer Evo 9). However, Jones was badly delayed by windscreen wiper problems in the heavy rain of the final stage.
Father and son Wug and Max Utting (Utting Estates/Geoff Jones (Wales) Motorsport-Subaru Impreza) were next up and well clear of Chris Gash/Dylan Williams (Subaru Impreza), Arwel Parry/Catrin Price (Moduron Arwel Parry Motors/GPrice Photographs-Subaru Impreza), Martyn Andrews/Tim Currie (Subaru Impreza) and Rob Aslett/Ashley Aslett (Retro Race and Rally-Subaru Impreza).
Parry was relieved to chalk up a finish after a frustrating retirement before stage one on Rally North Wales. Out of luck after an off were Keith Gapper/Paul Price (Total Spray Solutions-Subaru Impreza) while Gary Bollands/Nigel Baldwin (GB Motorservices/CiderOnline /GB Furniture Solutions-Subaru Impreza Wagon) were also sidelined in the final stage.
In Class 8 for the over 2000cc 2WD cars Andrew Fox/Jaime-Lee Fox (Severnside Defibs and Training/Fitzgerald Plant Services-BMW 325) had the category to themselves this time around and steered the BMW through to a good haul of points.
Class 7 for the 1600 to 2000cc cars was a scene of considerable attrition and it was Geoff Phelps/Colin Jenkins (Cherry Rock Ltd/Dave Jenkins Motorsport-Ford Escort Mk2) who coped best with the conditions to chalk up a good finish after a frustrating early retirement on round one with major engine woes.
Tom Todd/Dan Morefield (Historic Motorsport-Ford Escort Mk1) took the runner-up slot from Damian Cole/Ian Allsop (Get Connected-Ford Escort Mk2) while Steve Chaplin/Rich Suter (Ford Escort Mk2) and Jeremy Harris/Alexandra Harris (Kilcot Garage Ltd/Gurneys Family Butchers/Edge Communications-Ford Escort Mk1) both made it to the finish.
In the 1600cc Class 6 Neil Commons/Christian Brown (Ford Fiesta R2) had the least dramas to win the class from Christopher Skinner/Mark Williams (Peugeot 205 GTi) and Michael Jenkins/Jordan Joines (Ignition Motorsport-Ford Fiesta R2) after Jenkins went off in SS4 and collected a stage maximum.
Class 1 for road rally cars lost Colin Evans/John Evans (Towy Waste-BMW 318ti) at service so it was Richard Phillipson/Brian Cammack (BL Mini 1000 MK3) who battled home to win the class.
Dylan Fowler-Bishop/Dan Evans (Restruct Ltd/Total Spray Solutions/JFB Motorsport/Jordan Road Surfacing-Nissan Micra) won Class 0 for the 1400cc cars. In a different Nissan Micra for the occasion, Fowler-Bishop was on typically attacking form and, despite a first stage delay, finished the rally just over two minutes clear of Gethin Rhun Price/Steven Brown (R Keith Price Haulage-Nissan Micra) with Joel Lewis/Jamie Mills (Bucknell Auto Services-Peugeot 106 XSi) taking third.
Frustrated to retire before the opening stage with engine issues were Geraint Williams and Ifan Rowlands (GW Services/Gwynedd Skip and Plant/Carafanau Hamdden/Ceir Seiont/Cacenau Tyn Twll Cakes-Vauxhall Nova) while Jeffrey Jones/Graham Isaac (Peugeot 106 GTi) got no further than SS4. Also out after a strong first stage went Matthew Jackson/Sasha Heriot in their Nissan Micra after alternator issues at the start of the second stage.
Class H3 for the Category 2 cars was all about Ben Smith/Steven Smith (Amigos Tequila Flavoured Beer-Porsche 911 RS) who took another class win despite struggling with the loss of third gear in the Porsche's gearbox. Gary Smith/Phil Clarke (Ford Escort Mk1) led the chase of the Porsche from David Hopkins/Siobhan Pugh (Hopgrove Construction/Ribbons of Treorchy/Mosley's Rolling Road/WOS Performance-Ford Escort Mk1).
Neal James/Steven James (Valley Auto Sport/Classic Car Storage Ammanford-Ford Escort Mk2) were next up from Jeremy Wells/Martin Saunders (Wells Masonry Solutions Ltd-Ford Escort Mk1) as Jon Adams/James Wardle (Ford Escort) joined the list of retirements.
In Class H4 for the over 1600cc Category 3 cars there was an impressive debut for Rob Latham/Daniel Thomas (Ford Escort Mk2) who took a fine victory on a tough day. They had around 25s in hand over the Escort of Mike Simpson/Dale Gibbons with John Greves/Russell Thompson (Greves Transport) and Lyn Davies/Aled Richards (57 Tyres) next up. Out on SS4 went James Chambers/James Brown (Superfast Properties Ltd).
For 2026 the Restruct Junior Challenge within the PWRC will only be open to crews in two-wheel-drive cars and is for competitors aged under 25 at January 1, 2026. In a continuation of the unique partnership between M-Sport and the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship, the leading junior driver and co-driver after round four of the season, the Nicky Grist Stages, will get the chance to travel to Rally Italia and work with the M-Sport team as part of the weather crew for the event.
The Motorsport UK Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship is supported by Pirelli, Ashmores Press Brake Tooling, Restruct, Moduron Arwel Parry Motors, 57 Tyres and LH Motorsport.
