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.
After several years of two-wheel/front-wheel drive “hot hatches” being the focus of our top-flight National Championship, competitors were voting with their feet. Numbers had declined to the point where the series, which should possibly be considered as “the pinnacle” of the sport in our country had lost credibility amongst rallying folk and had effectively become a turn-off for the fans.
“THE BRC IS BACK!” was the tagline for the British Rally Championship in 2016.
A new British Rally Champion was crowned at Round 6 of the 2023 Championship, the TrackRod Rally Yorkshire.
From the seaside town of Filey, the British Rally Championship arrived in North Yorkshire and returned to the Gravel after four back-to-back Asphalt rallies. Six Stages covering approximately 57 competitive stage miles would await only a handful of BRC registered crews who would compete at the event but there was only really ever going to be one outcome.
The Motorsport UK British Rally Championship would venture a little further away from home for the third round of its 2023 season. For those competitors who were both brave enough and had the budget to contest the Ardeca Ypres Rally. Approx 220 kilometres of some of Belgium’s finest stretches of tarmac rallying stages would await them across the channel in and around the Historic town of Ypres.
he Motorsport UK British Rally Championship resumed in the Scottish Borders at the Beatson’s Building Supplies Jim Clark Rally for its second round of the 2023 Championships (May 26/27). From the town of Duns, this gruelling two-day Asphalt rally offered up some 72 competitive miles across 9 stages and would uphold its reputation as an enjoyable, yet tough and challenging rally for the British Rally Championship crews to tackle.
The 2023 Motorsport UK British Rally Championship got underway in somewhat significantly more challenging circumstances than expected at the opening round, The Malcolm Wilson Stages Rally (11th March). The season opener saw a return for the British Rally Championship to the Lake District Forest Stages for the first time in decades but it wasn’t just the competitors that were to be tested to the limit on the event.
The Motorsport UK British Rally Championships will return to the stages with a new season opener to the series on March 11th. The Malcolm Wilson Stages Rally will take up the role of hosting the first round of an exciting seven-rally calendar. It has been decades since the British Championship has competed on these stunning Lake District Forest Stages, so this event makes a very welcomed addition to the schedule this year.