WELSH / RD7 / WYEDEAN STAGES 2023
31/12/2023The third Saturday of November had a distinctly autumnal feel on the Gloucestershire/ Wales border as the curtain came down on the 2023 Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship on the forty fifth Wyedean Stages Rally. The Forest of Dean motor club ran event was once again based out of Forest Hills Golf club in Coleford and included 7 stages spread across the historic Forest of Dean.
Always a popular one with rally fans and locals alike, due to its accessible location, all stages within easy reach of the major urban conurbations of the midlands, Bristol and South Wales.
PHOTO BY ANDREW SCOTT
As with the 2022 event, the format of the event comprised fourty stage miles spread over the Speech House, Blaize Bailey and Serridge forests. Therefore a bumper crowd and great atmosphere were always guaranteed to bring the curtain down on the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship season.
Coming shortly after Russ Thompson and Steven Link’s win on October’s penultimate round (at the Cambrian Rally) this was to be the championship decider. Retirement on the Cambrian for championship leaders Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear had left the door open for Thompson to potentially clinch the championship. Radiator issues at the end of the first loop had proved to be the undoing of Hirst/Dear in what has been a difficult second half of the year. Despite this, Hirst and Dear were still leading the championship going into the Wyedean.
4WD
The 4WD entry was led by Welsh Championship regulars, Matthew Hirst and Declan Dear, firm favourites for the Welsh championship in their Ford Fiesta R5. Their main competition would come from Rob Wilson/ Martin Haggett, Nik Elsmore/ Pauline Nash, Simon Rogers/ James How, in their Mitsubishis, plus a fourth 2023 outing for local boy Bob Morgan in his Skoda Fabia R5. There was also a surprise outing for tarmac ace Meirion Evans using the Polo R5 used by Tom Cave to take the overall win on the Cambrian a few weeks prior.
However, the Welsh Championship Cambrian winners Russ Thompson and Steven Link were absent from this event after problems with their Mitsubishi (Evo 9), handing the title to Matthew Hirst as a result. Link quoted as saying:
“The transfer box broke on the final stage at the Cambrian, so (we) took the decision to miss the Dean to get a fresh engine and transfer box ready for Grizedale. We would have needed a lot of luck to enable us to win the whole championship”.
Steven Link
PHOTOS: NIK ElSMORE & PAULINE NASH | ROB WILSON & MARTING HAGGETT | BOB MORGAN & ADE WILLIAMS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
The first loop of stages started with a 5.6 mile run through the Birchwood stage in Serridge Forest and Evans quickly jumped into an eight second lead over Hirst with twenty seconds covering the first four through. As the crews headed back to service after the first Loop of three stages, Evans had increased his lead to sixteen seconds over Hirst, thirty-six seconds over Wilson and one minute over Elsmore. The nine miles of SS3 Staple edge proving crucial as both Wilson and Elsmore lost time on the longest stage of the event.
PHOTO: MEIRION EVANS & KEATON WILLIAMS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
The second loop of stages was to see a slight change at the front of the leader board as Meirion Evans clipped the inside of a corner and was forced to retire on SS6.
Previous to this, Evans had increased his lead to twenty one seconds over Hirst by the end of SS5. Therefore as the crews returned to service in Coleford for a final regroup, Hirst/Dear led by twenty two seconds from Wilson/ Haggett and a further one minute fifteen back to Elsmore/ Nash in Third.
The final stage, SS7, a shortened version of the Birchwood test, would see Hirst/Dear cement the win by seventeen seconds, with a time of four minutes thirty seven seconds, five seconds slower than Wilson/ Haggett. Elsmore/ Nash finishing third a full one minute forty five seconds off the lead.
In doing so, both Hirst and Dear took the Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship title, Matthew Hirst, thirty three points ahead of a consistently scoring Simon Rogers, and Declan Dear finishing five points ahead of Steve Greenhill for the Co-Drivers title. Hirst was quoted as saying:
“I’m delighted to have won my third Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship with my third win in a row on the Wyedean, particularly as it was such a tricky event this year”.
“We’ve had a bad run recently and we needed this result to go into the winter break at peace and at one with rallying again. In sport you have good runs and bad runs and we’ve had both this year”.
Matthew Hirst/Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship
PHOTOS: MATTHEW HIRST & DECLAN DEAR | BY ANDREW SCOTT
2WD
In the two wheel drive category, championship leaders Iwan Roberts and Daniel Jones faced competition from Callum Griffiths/ William Lewis and Ricky Crone/ Ifan Devine, both still within a shout of taking the title should Roberts fail to score. However, last year’s champions, the ever popular Flying Kiwi Rally Team of Boyd Kershaw and Keegan Rees were absent from the final event, with Kershaw planning a sabbatical in 2024.
PHOTOS: RICKY CRONE & IFAN DEVINE | CALLUM GRIFFITHS & WILLIAM LEWIS | IWAN ROBERTS & DANIEL JONES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
In the event, Roberts was to dominate, taking his fourth win in seven events. By the end of the first loop Roberts had set fastest time on all three stages and was thirty-one seconds ahead of Crone who was second, despite a trip into a ditch on SS3 Staple Edge. Griffiths was a further two seconds back in third, this despite setting equal fastest time on SS2 Blaze Bailey.
The pattern was to continue on SS4 with another fastest time by Roberts, taking a further five and six seconds out of Crone and Griffiths respectively. However by the end of the loop (SS6) Crone and Griffiths would have swapped positions, Callum having taken seven seconds out of Ricky on SS5. Blaize Bailey proving a very fruitful stage again for Griffiths.
PHOTO: IWAN ROBERTS & DANIEL JONES | BY ANDREW SCOTT
By the end of SS7, Roberts had won every stage and in the final reckoning finished the event one minute eleven seconds clear of Griffiths and one minute twenty six seconds ahead of Crone. Griffith’s performance ensuring he took a tightly fought junior title over Sam Mason in his Fiesta. The junior Co-Driver title going to Bonnie Papper who spent the season partnering Colin Minton in the Fiesta R5.
PHOTOS: SAM MASON & JAMES SEYMOUR | COLIN MINTON & BONNIE PAPPER | BY ANDREW SCOTT
HISTORICS
As with the other two classes, there were some notable absentees in the historic category. The most notable being Andrew Stokes and Jonny Tad Evans in their championship winning Escort Mk1, thoughts firmly on their Roger Albert Clark Rally assault the following week.
This left the Brace’s Bread Mk1 Escort of Jonathan Brace and Paul Spooner as the only top running Welsh Championship crew to compete. However, they would face tough competition in the wider W8 class, from eventual class winners Tom Llewellin/ Sion Williams, Jeremy Easson / Mike Reynolds and Ernie / Karen Graham.
PHOTO: JONATHAN BRACE & PAUL SPOONER | BY ANDREW SCOTT
On the face of it, a conservative looking drive from Brace left him finishing fourth in class, some four minutes fourteen seconds off eventual 2WD and W8 class winners Tom Llewellin/ Sion Williams in their Ford Escort Mk2. However they finished only fourteen seconds behind Second, the impressive Llewellin clearly in a class of his own.
PHOTOS: JONATHAN BRACE & PAUL SPOONER | TOM LLEWELLIN & SION WILLIAMS | BY ANDREW SCOTT
The 2024 Pirelli Welsh Rally Championship will begin on sixteenth march 2024 at Rally North Wales in Welshpool, and is all set for another competitive seven round season culminating at the 2024 Wyedean Stages Rally on sixteenth of November next year.
