McCormack gives Volkswagen Polo R5 maiden Irish win at Cork 20

Marty McCormack handed Volkswagen Motorsport its first win on Irish soil as he took the Tiger Risk Partners-backed Dom Buckley RSC Polo R5 to victory at the coveted CBToolHire.com Cork “20 International Rally (28-29 September).

McCormack and co-driver Barney Mitchell overcame treacherous conditions and an off-stage incident to land the brand-new Polo its first-ever victory in Ireland by over 18 seconds. The Draperstown ace managed to take the lead on the seventh stage of the 13-test event and was never headed, to win his first rally since the Carrick on Suir Forestry Stages in January.

Webster and Rogers clinch BHRC title

Simon Webster and Jez Rogers were confirmed as BHRC champions on Saturday afternoon (28 September) after the final round of the FUCHS LUBRICANTS Motorsport UK British Historic Rally Championship.

While Matthew Robinson and Sam Collis took back-to-back victories on the Trackrod Historic Cup, Webster and Rogers saw off the challenge of Stanley Orr and Grahame Henderson to emerge as popular overall champions after a tremendously sporting contest. “Simon’s a gentleman and he’s a very worthy champion,” said Orr.

Proton Iriz R5 takes start-to-finish Trackrod Rally Yorkshire win

Just weeks after securing a Woodpecker Stages Rally victory, Ollie Mellors and Ian Windress made it two-from-two in 2019 by taking their Proton Iriz R5 to a dominant Trackrod Rally Yorkshire win on Saturday (28th September).

Mellors opened up an eight-second lead on the opening stage of the five-test event in the Thornbridge Brewery backed Proton and was never headed, ensuring the Iriz R5 could enjoy a start to finish win in the difficult Dalby forest complex.

Return to Driftenberg and Gymkhana GRiD

The 2019 Gymkhana GRiD kicked off with something a little special for Baggsy. The Thursday press conference would see the premiere of Baggsy’s new film ‘Return To Driftenberg’. After the success of the first instalment ‘The Driftenberg Project’, Baggsy teamed up with St Supensions and Monster Energy to bring more smoke to the streets of Fichtenberg, Germany.

With cameos from Liam Doran, Andreas Bakkerud, Shane Lynch, Mareike Fox and even the mayor of Fichtenberg Roland Miola. The project would see Baggsy go on the run from the Driftenberg Police Force (Doran and Bakkerud). The four day film shoot took place in the centre of Fichtenberg, on public roads. Which sets it apart from most drift films on YouTube.

Lewis to make World Rally Championship debut at Wales Rally GB

Rising junior rally driver Eddie Lewis will contest his maiden FIA World Rally Championship event next week, as he is all set to tackle Britain’s round of the series, Wales Rally GB (3-6 October).

Lewis, 17, from Newark, will pilot his newly acquired 2019 specification M-Sport Ford Fiesta R2T on the three-day iconic event, competing against some of the best drivers in the world across over 300km of notorious Welsh forests. He will be co-driven by Dom Adams for the event.

UCI Road Cycling World Championships – Road Races

After the time trials the road racing starts and on the opening day the Mens junior title took place on the Harrogate circuit. The conditions were damp to say the least and it Quinn Simmons (USA) who broke away to take the title. The following day was back to dry and the Womens junior title went to Megan Jastrab (USA) whilst in the afternoon there was controversy as there was a post race demotion, so the Mens U23 title went to Samuele Battistella (Italy) from a small breakaway group. The last race we caught was the big one and after a rain altered route saw more laps of the Harrogate circuit, the Elite Mens road title was hard fought. Mads Pedersen (Denmark) took a shock win when everyone expected Matteo Trentin (Italy) to win in the sprint.

Trackrod Forest Stages

The Trackrod was once again the final round of the BTRDA and BHRC championships. With the BTRDA decided, for the main titles, all eyes were on the BHRC as 5 drivers could take the title. Matt Edwards & Hamish Campbell (131 Abarth) were fastest through the opening Friday night test but Matthew Robinson & Sam Collis (Escort MkII) hit back on Saturday and the pair swapped fastest stage times leaving Robinson just under 4 seconds ahead going in to the final stage. A spin and stall in front of our position didn’t help and the best part of 17 seconds were dropped, leaving Robinson victorious by just over 21s. Steve Bannister & Callum Atkinson (Escort MkII) completed the podium but all eyes were behind them as none of the top 3 were either registered or in with a shot of the title.

Wet Day at Weeton

The days leading up to the Weeton Junior Stages saw the UK bathed in sunshine, with not a cloud in the sky. This was because the rain was being saved to be dumped on Weeton just before the Junior Rally started.

This event brought competitors from Scotland and England together for only the second time this year. Top seed, Rob Wilson & Martin Haggett set the pace from the first stages with a string of fastest times, while in the Scottish Championship, the regular protagonists were joined by Lewis Hooper who was registered in both championships, and fastest stage times were shared between Lewis Hooper & Sam Bilham, Oliver Hunter & Richard Crozier, and Cameron Davidson & Ian McRae, with only a few seconds separating them.

Bespoke Rallies announces a stunning menu of 24 classic and 4×4 rallies through to October 2023

Bespoke Rallies unveiled its biggest ever calendar of classic and 4×4 rallies at the recent Goodwood Revival – the comprehensive schedule comprises no less than 24 global adventures between November this year and October 2023.

Dakar Enduro
Topping the list of newcomers is the 21-day Dakar Enduro that’s scheduled for February/March 2021, of which Bespoke Rallies Director John Brigden remarked: “It will evoke the glory days of the immortal Paris Dakar by employing some of that event’s finest roads while avoiding the worst, thereby making it suitable for a range of vehicles from classics to two-wheel drive hatchbacks; not to mention motorcycles, as per the original rally. Kicking off at Brooklands, it will wend its way through France and Spain before heading via Tangier, Marrakesh and Dahkla to Dakar.”

UCI Road Cycling World Championships – Time Trials

The first half of the UCI Road World Championships in Yorkshire would see the time trial titles decided before the switch to the bunch races. Each day proved to be totally different with rain, to varying levels, one day and the sun and dry roads the next, so it really proved to be a lottery as to which conditions each race would get. The opening day saw the Netherlands take the mixed team time trial. The Monday saw the Womens junior title go to Aigul Gareeva (Russia) in the morning before Antonio Tiberi (Italy) made a courageous comeback to secure the Mens junior title.