BRC / RD1 / NORTH WEST STAGES 2024
02/04/2024WORDS BY ANDY COOK | PHOTOGRAPHY BY: ANDY COOK, ANDREW SCOTT & NIGEL PRATT
The Motorsport UK British Rally Championship has taken a bit of a leap forward this year in what initially appears to be the most competitive season for several years. ProBite, a new upstart in the world of automotive performance braking has taken up the position as the headline sponsor and the championship has secured rally-by-rally highlights coverage on terrestrial TV for the first time in years.
The new revitalised season would get underway at the Legend Fires North West Stages (March 22 / 23), from Garstang, Lancashire in the North West of England. A newcomer to the BRC, the North West Stages has always attracted a strong following in the past, typically being a round of the National Asphalt Series. There was, however, still room for the BRC to join the event this year and a bumper entry list had signed up for the season’s curtain raiser.
Photos By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
The closed-road event would offer up a planned 10 stages (two loops of five) covering some 60 competitive miles, however, the organisers were faced with the most testing of days, where the event that many had worked long and hard on, was impacted by several challenges on the day.
Friday evening attracted a big crowd of onlookers lining the streets in Garstang town centre for the ceremonial start. Both rally fans and locals were able to get up close to an array of rally cars and hear from some of the drivers which created a buzz about the air.
Photos By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
The following morning the crews were met with some changeable weather and conditions out on the stages that were tricky to read. Infrequent rain showers and muddy cuts meant for a bit of a lottery when it came to tyre choice adding to the already challenging and demanding Lancashire lanes that had been selected.
BRC1
2019 European Rally Champion, Chris Ingram alongside Co-Driver Alex Kihurani led the field away into the opening 7.21 miles test (Beacon Fell) in their Melvyn Evans Motorsport, Team Castrol VW Polo GTi R5 car. Seeded as no 1, Ingram won the event last time it ran in 2022 but was under no illusion about the calibre of competition that would be chasing him down.
Photo: Chris Ingram & Alex Kihurani | By Andrew Scott
Although Ingram recorded the fastest time on the opening stage, he reported that the Polo was suffering from a pop-off valve problem “Whenever we are going into slow sections and coming out of it, the cars just dying”. Regardless of that issue, five seconds over Irishman Keith Cronin was an impressive way to begin his rally and BRC assault.
Cronin himself is no slouch, a four times British Rally title winner who was fresh in from winning the West Cork Rally back home in the Irish Tarmac Championship the previous weekend and he described the conditions as both “Tricky” and “Very Slippy”. Having exited the BRC fairly early on last season when M-Sports Adrien Fourmaux ran away with the title, Cronin would return to the series in search of his fifth British Rally title. This year he has traded in the VW Polo GTi R5 and is peddling the latest specification M-Sport built Ford Fiesta Rally2 machine.
Photos: Keith Cronin & Mickie Galvin – By Andrew Scott | Osian Pryce & Rhodri Evans – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
Another returnee to the series is our 2022 Champ, Osian Pryce; currently with enough funds behind him for the first couple of rounds, the Welshman was also taking on the North West in a Fiesta Rally2 car. Pryce thought that the first stage of the day was “Trickier than expected with a few rude awakenings” but felt that his run, which was enough to secure the third spot was “generally clean” and he “didn’t do anything mad”, which was the right approach given the lack of seat time in a rally car.
Behind Pryce was his old team-mate, Meirion Evans in the stunning Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. MEM is the first in the UK to campaign such a car and was continuing its relationship with Castrol, reuniting both the Castrol and Toyota brands in the iconic livery for their BRC team challenge. Evans was just aiming for a clean start, the car is so new and every single mile counts, fourth and just a second behind Pryce was a good start.
Photos: Meirion Evans & Jonathan Jackson – By Andrew Scott | William Creighton & Liam Regan – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
Rounding out the top 5 on that opening Beacon Fell test was 2019 Junior British Rally Champ, William Creighton alongside Liam Regan calling the notes. Since securing that JBRC title, the pair have gone on to raise the bar, competing on the World stage they also brought home the 2023 Junior World Rally Championship title to Ireland last year. Stepping up to the top BRC1 class on the event in another M-Sport built Ford Fiesta Rally2, Creighton was another to get valuable seat time the previous weekend on the West Cork Rally, taking the third spot on the podium there.
Just outside of the top 5, 2023 Asphalt Rally Champ, Callum Black believed that the first one was “A lot harder than anticipated” but reported an issue at the start line with the lights freezing, and then a brief miss-fire to his Fiesta early on in-stage. Scotland’s Garry Pearson who had signed up to M-Sport was back with Dan Barritt this season. Despite having to navigate the mud that had been pulled on the roads by the crews in front of him, he had “No Dramas” and was already targeting a clean finish to the rally. Welshman James Williams who has employed the services of Igrams 2019 title-winning Co-Driver Ross Whittock, was wide-eyed in his Hyundai i20 Rally 2 car, finding it hard to judge the grip.
Photos: Callum Black & Jack Morton – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media) | Garry Pearson & Dan Barritt – By Andrew Scott | James Williams & Ross Whittock – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
That opening stage was subsequently cancelled with a blockage following an off by James Ford & Neil Shanks; with a lot of crews being handed notional times, it was onto the 4.37 miles of SS2 Long Knots. Ingram once again topped the time sheets, he was 8 seconds quicker in his Polo than Pryce was in the Fiesta but Pryce had picked up a puncture. Long Knots did however see Pryce take a couple out of Cronin who was suffering from an iffy handbrake and Creighton also passed the Yaris of Evans for fourth. Black and Co-Driver Jack Morton picked up the third fastest stage time in Long Knots which increased their buffer over James Williams & Ross Whittock.
Photos: Chris Ingram & Alex Kihurani – By Andrew Scott | Osian Pryce & Rhodri Evans By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
Just eleven cars completed the third test through Crossgill before the stage was canned but before that, Pryce had picked up his first stage win. Getting the better of Ingram by 1.9 seconds, his efforts had also moved him up into second ahead of Cronin who was struggling with the Fiestas issues. Because of several delays and issues with the opening two tests, the organisers were forced to also cancel the remainder of the morning loop, hoping to regroup back at service and go again for the afternoon loop.
| POS | LEADERBOARD | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #1 C.INGRAM / A.KIHURANI | 16:29.0 |
| 2 | #3 O.PRYCE / R.EVANS | +17.8 |
| 3 | #5 W.CREIGHTON / L.REGAN | +29.2 |
| 4 | #4 M.EVANS / J.JACKSON | +31.4 |
| 5 | #7 J.WILLIAMS / R.WHITTOCK | +53.8 |
Photo: Osian Pryce & Rhodri Evans – By Andrew Scott
The rally got back on track and resumed with Osian Pryce in the zone, he and Co-Driver Rhodri Evans had picked up their second stage win through the repeated Beacon Fell test. Some 8.4 seconds behind Pryce was James Williams in the Hyundai i20; for a man who was saying that he really struggled with the Beacon Fell stage, it was a little mystifying how he could be right on the pace even without having the feeling.
“I dunno, in that stage it just doesn’t seem to be working for me, everything today is a bit I dunno, I’m not sure” “The other stages feel good, that one I really struggle with the latter half of it, with the shiny surface the car just don’t give me much confidence”
James WIlliams
Photos: James Williams & Ross Whittock – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media) | Max McRae & Cameron Fair – By Andrew Scott
A further 4.2 behind Williams was Max McRae, the M-Sport driver hadn’t yet had a proper stage run due to all the cancellations so hadn’t been able to see how his pace compared to the others ahead of him. He was perhaps one of the few to have correctly gone with the wet tyre option for the afternoon loop which had finally meant that he could record a decent time on the board.
“We went on the wets for a bit of stability because I don’t have a lot of seat time in the car, so it’s nice to have a bit of confidence when it’s wet and muddy with them”
Max McRae
Rally leader Ingram was off the pace only managing the fifth fastest time, but that could possibly have been down to a “bit of a gearbox problem” that he mentioned he was “nursing”; either way he still had 8 seconds in hand to Pryce. But Pryce’s charge would be all over in the very next stage, Long Knotts 2, forced to retire his Ford Fiesta from that podium place with a suspected fuel system issue he was out of the rally, it was not the way he and Co-Driver Rhodri Evans wanted their season to begin.
Photo: Chris Ingram & Alex Kihurani – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
Chris Ingram stamped his authority over the rally in that stage adding the win to his tally of now three stage wins; with a lead of more than half a minute over William Creighton & Liam Regan, the sights were firmly set on the prize. Ingram & Kihurani followed that up in SS8, the 6.31 miles of Crossgill, piping Creighton by a mere .3 of a second which showed that Creighton was still pushing despite that sizable time deficit that he faced.
Ingram had a little over 10 miles remaining across two stages which they hadn’t driven in anger yet, before he could even contemplate celebrating. Creighton snatched the win in the penultimate stage through Hathornthwaite by a second but a little second here or there was never going to be enough to trouble Ingram.
Photo: Chris Ingram & Alex Kihurani – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
Chris Ingram and Co-Driver Alex Kihurani entered the final stage, Nicky Nook with 31.8 seconds in the glove box of their VW Polo GTi R5 car and were able to drive through the last 6.26 miles of the rally untroubled by that previous gearbox issue.
With four stage wins under their belts, the pair had built up a lead that they could protect and won the rally by a margin of 27 seconds. Taking to the top step of the podium back in Garstang town centre for the second time but importantly to also claim maximum points at the opening round of the Probite British Rally Championship which is a result and a half.
“Amazing to win at home against such strong competition, I knew there were some really quick guys, especially the Irish guys who’ve had loads of the seat time” “It’s gonna be a hell of a battle the rest of the season”
Chris Ingram
Photo: William Creighton & Liam Regan – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
One of those Irish guys that Ingram was referring to was second-place man William Creighton. Creighton and Co-Driver Liam Regan had made steady progress throughout the day setting consistently strong stage times in the Ford Fiesta Rally2.
“I’m really happy because it was so so tricky, a massive thanks to M-Sport and Motorsport Ireland Rally Academy and of course Liam. Today was so tricky, I’m really happy with the result”
William Creighton
Perhaps another “Irish Guy” that Ingram considered a threat was Keith Cronin, but it was a fraught day in the office, which for some reason or another meant that the stage times and the result just never materialised. At least he finished the rally, albeit down in seventh overall (6th in BRC), unlike some of his other fellow countrymen. Alan Carmichael retired his Hyundai i20 Rally2 car with mechanical issues whilst teammate, 2023 JBRC Champ Kyle White crashed out on the opening stage with failed brakes on his Hyundai i20 R5 car.
Photo: Meirion Evans & Jonathan Jackson – By Andrew Scott
Rounding out the podium was Ingrams Castrol MEM teammate, Meirion Evans in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2. Evans alongside Co-Driver Jonathan Jackson had gotten the job done for the car’s first-ever competitive outing. Securing third in the BRC was a great way to begin his season and a promising start for the new machine.
“I think it’s a podium which is more than I could have asked for really, I’ve barely had a day in it [the car] so to get it to the end of a tricky rally like this and with a result like that I’m really pleased” “It’s great for the team”
Meirion Evans
Bringing his Hyundai i20 Rally2 home in fourth was a man who in his own words had “a bit of an up and down day”, like many, tyre choices throughout the rally had been a bit of guesswork. James Williams and Ross Whittock can and should be pretty satisfied with their result on this challenging closed-road rally. There was arguably some of the toughest competition out competing at the opening round and they held their own, being rewarded with a decent points haul to begin their BRC campaign with.
Photos: James Williams & Ross Whittock – By Andrew Scott | Neil Roskell & Dai Roberts – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
Fifth place belonged to local boy Neil Roskell. Despite a slight altercation with a bail on the final bend of the last stage which resulted in a fair bit of damage to his Ford Fiesta Rally2, he and Co-Driver Dai Roberts managed to get it back home to finish the rally with a solid result.
Following the morning’s couple of stages, Roskell and Roberts found themselves inside the top 10 heading into the afternoon’s loop. But like many, they had opted for slicks and when the rain poured down they simply had to manage the situation that they had been dealt. They managed to climb the leaderboard to 7th before heading into the final stage where they would gain a further two positions through the final 6.26 miles of Nicky Nook. Although Roskell would walk away with a slightly battered and bruised car, the result on the other hand was well worth the repair bill.
| POS | FINAL RESULTS | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #1 C.INGRAM / A.KIRHURANI | 44:02.4 |
| 2 | #5 W.CREIGHTON / L.REGAN | +27.0 |
| 3 | #4 M.EVANS / J.JACKSON | +48.1 |
| 4 | #7 J.WILLIAMS / R.WHITTOCK | +1:08.1 |
| 5 | #16 N.ROSKELL / D.ROBERTS | +1:57.6 |
Photo: Winners Chris Ingram & Alex Kihurani – By Andrew Scott
JBRC
It wasn’t until the afternoon loop and the sixth stage of the rally that the Junior crews could actually record a bonafide time of their own on the board following the cancellations of the morning loop. Kalum Graffin and Richard Crozier opened up their day with a time that was 1.2 seconds quicker than Casey Jay Coleman & Lorcan Moore on the Beacon Fell 2 test.
Photos: Kalum Graffin & Richard Crozier – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media) | Casey Jay Coleman & Lorcan Moore – By Andrew Scott
Coleman reacted instantaneously in SS7 Long Knots 2 stopping the clocks 4.6 seconds quicker than Proudlock and 6.6 seconds quicker than Graffin, setting things up nicely for what was promising to be a three-way tussle. However, Colemans’ charge was short-lived, having picked up a puncture in SS8 Crossgill, the young Irish lad was demoted down the leaderboard and out of the scrap for the JBRC win.
This left the likes of Graffin and Proudlock to scrap it out over the final two tests of the event for the honors. Graffin had a lead of around 10 seconds over Proudlock as they entered the penultimate stage, Hawthornthwaite 2. In this stage, Graffin seemingly put an end to any potential challenge from Proudlock. By posting a time that was nearly ten seconds quicker, Graffin had effectively put one hand on the trophy with just the final stage remaining.
Photos: Kalum Graffin & Richard Crozier – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media) | Robert Proudlock & Steven Brown – By Andrew Scott
Proudlock gave it one final push over the final 6.6 miles of the rally in Nicky Nook 2 and although he secured his second stage win here, taking back those 10 seconds that he had just lost in the previous stage, It was all to be in vain. Kalum Graffin’s lead was enough to secure him the opening-round win in the Probite Junior British Rally Championship, crossing the finish line back in Garstang with a lead of 11.4 seconds.
| POS | FINAL JBRC RESULTS | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #81 K.GRIFFIN / R.CROZIER | 50:59.1 |
| 2 | #79 R.PROUDLOCK / S.BROWN | +11.4 |
| 3 | #80 C.JAY-COLEMAN / L.MOORE | +2:54.6 |
OPEN
At the eleventh hour, Hugh Brunton slipped in his registration for the OpenRally category award. Maybe he had some premonition in the run-up to the rally telling him to do so or call it divine intervention from the rallying Gods? either way, it proved to be the right call.
Photo: Hugh Brunton & Drew Sturrock – By Andrew Scott
The Open field’s first real stage would have been SS2 Long Knotts where Brunton and Co-Driver Drew Sturrock got their rally underway in their Skoda Fabia Rally 2 by setting the fastest time of the Open registered crews. The pair stopped the clocks a little over 10 seconds quicker than Hugh Hunter & Rob Fagg (Ford Fiesta Rally2), with the event sponsor, John Stone rounding out the top three in his VW Polo GTi R5.
The remainder of the morning loop of stages was cancelled so the Open competitors didn’t resume their rally until the first run of the afternoon loop, Beacon Fell 2. Here is where Brunton & Sturrock continued on where they left off, getting the better of Stone & Co-Driver Laura Marshall by almost 10 seconds which they were able to follow up in SS7 Long Knotts, bolstering their lead by a further 18.9 seconds.
Photos: Hugh Brunton & Drew Sturrock – By Andrew Scott | John Stone & Laura Marshall – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media)
Unfortunately, event sponsor John Stone slid his VW Polo off the road on a muddy corner in SS8 and was out of the rally, leaving Hugh Hunter & Rob Fagg and John Morrison & Max Freeman to chase down Brunton & Sturrock, or at least attempt to. However, the margin that the leaders had built up was growing with every passing stage, and with just two stages remaining the pair had built up a now sizable lead which was pretty much unobtainable.
Hugh Bruntons pace proved too much for Hunter who struggled to even get close to his stage times. Hugh Brunton and Co-Driver Drew Sturrock would enter the final Nicky Nook test with a rather comfortable 1-minute and 47-second buffer and would indeed bring their Skoda Fabia R5 home for the Open Rally honours.
Photo: Hugh Brunton & Drew Sturrock – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
“Was a good rally for us, had a strong but steady morning just trying to keep a fast but safe pace. Made the wrong tyre choice at service, going onto a harder compound slick just before the rain, but worked away and had a few good stages along with a few not so good. Delighted to finish in the top 10.”
Hugh Brunton
Behind them, Hugh Hunter & Robb Fag put their Ford Fiesta Rally2 car on the second step of the Open podium, again with a sizable gap to John Morrison & Max Freeman who rounded out the top three in their R5 spec Ford Fiesta.
Photos: Hugh Hunter & Rob Fagg | John Morrison & Max Freeman – By Andrew Scott
| POS | FINAL OPEN RESULTS | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #23 H.BRUNTON / D.STURROCK | 46:46.5 |
| 2 | #18 H.HUNTER / R.FAGG | 48:34.1 |
| 3 | #55 J.MORRISON / M.FREEMAN | 50:41.7 |
NATIONAL
The National Rally field offered a fairly diverse range of machinery to compete against, but two competitors in particular delivered a bit of a ding-dong battle throughout the afternoon stages.
The morning loop was pretty much non-existent for the National Rally crews. The opening test of the rally was unfortunately cancelled due to blockage following an off, and the second stage only saw the first 4 crews complete it. Darren Atkinson & Matthew Daniels were the quickest to record a time on the board in their MKII Ford Escort, getting the better of the Darrian T90 GTR+ driven by Wayne Jones by nearly 8 seconds. Matthew Dance in another MKII Escort was a further 1.3 seconds down and rounding out the top three National crews.
Photo: Darren Atkinson & Matthew Daniels – By Andrew Scott
It wasn’t until the afternoon loop and the sixth stage of the event that all of the National Crews were able to get in their first real taste of the Lancashire Lanes, but the weather was wet and the roads were getting rather muddy the further down the running order you were.
Photo: Wayne Jones & Dafydd Evans – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
Wayne Jones alongside Dafydd Evans began the afternoon on a bit of a mission chasing down Atkinson, the pair secured the fastest national times on SS6 & SS7 bettering Atkinson on both occasions. Jones had gained some 22 seconds across these two stages and took the lead of the National field which then sparked a backlash from Atkinson who retaliated in SS8 Crossgill. Atkinson responded by taking 18.7 seconds back to reduce the gap back down to 4.6 heading into the penultimate stage of the rally. Atkinson followed it up in SS9 stopping the clocks 13.7 seconds quicker than Jones, snatching back the lead of the National Rally with just one final stage, Nicky Nook to go.
Photo: Darren Atkinson & Matthew Daniels – By Andrew Scott
Darren Atkinson & Matthew Daniels entered the final 6.26 miles of the rally with a lead of 18.2 seconds to protect from Wayne Jones & Dafydd Evans and indeed emerged out the other side as winners. Taking to the top step of the Probite British Rally Championship National podium with a margin of 34.7 seconds over of Jones & Evans with Matthew Dance & Jason Davies rounding out the top 3.
Photos: Wayne Jones & Dafydd Evans – By Andy Cook (Xlerate.Media) | Matthew Dance & Jason Davies – By Nigel Pratt (Black Mountains Media)
| POS | FINAL NATIONAL RESULTS | TIME |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | #32 D.ATKINSON / D.MATTHEW | 48:26.8 |
| 2 | #61 W.JONES / D.EVANS | +34.7 |
| 3 | #94 M.DANCE / J.DAVIS | +1:57.2 |
| 4 | #106 R.COTTON / E.KIDD | +2:02.9 |
| 5 | #74 M.CONSTANTINE / A.CONSTANTINE | +2:45.2 |
NEXT TIME
The Motorsport UK ProBite British Rally Championship moves into Mid Wales and onto the Gravel in April for the Rallynuts, Severn Valley Stages. The crews will tackle iconic Welsh stages that were made famous when Britain had a round of the World Rally Championship, with stages such as Myherin, Sweet Lamb and Hafren that will cover 62 miles in celebration of the event’s 50th running.
