Never used before gravel stage joins Crychan, Halfway and Route 60 in exciting new Nicky Grist Stages route

This summer’s Nicky Grist Stages (Saturday 14 July) will be the only event in 2018 to run on the classic Welsh gravel roads in Halfway and Route 60 – while the Crychan stage is in prime condition and a brand new smooth, fast and flowing stage, which has never been used for rallying before, replaces the rested Monument test.

This year’s Quinton MC-organised event returns to its traditional one-day all-gravel format. The stages will be in excellent condition, as the Army has re-graded parts of the route after recent logging and other sections of the route will not have been used since Rally4Wales re-graded the roads following last year’s rallying.

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White wins in Wales to maintain class lead

Barnsley rally driver David White was overjoyed to take 13th overall, 11th BRC crew and the BRC4 class honours at last weekend’s Nicky Grist Stages, round five of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship.

Fresh from a maximum points haul at the Ypres Rally in Belgium just a fortnight previously, White along with co-driver son Mathew, once again topped the category in a solid performance during the gruelling two-day mixed surface event in Wales.

MH Motorsport dominate Cadet Cup podium at Nicky Grist

Hampshire based British rally team MH Motorsport enjoyed a successful weekend at the fifth round of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship (BRC), scoring a Cadet podium lock-out at the Nicky Grist Stages in Wales (8th/9th July). In the process, they edge just a few points away from securing the Cadet Cup title.

With the Cadet category providing the opportunity for progressive youngsters to hone their skills in older specification R2 cars, the series was always set to provide close competition this season and MH Motorsport’s Josh Cornwell & Richard Bliss have dominated proceedings in each round so far. A third place last weekend was enough to bring them within a stone’s throw of the Cadet Cup honours with two rounds remaining.

Morrison takes podium double at the Nicky Grist

Ravenol BTRDA Rally Series contender George Morrison took his MG ZR to a second class 1400C podium of the season at last weekend’s Nicky Grist Stages in Wales.

Co-driven by fellow HM Forces Mechanic Jon Quintrell, Morrison secured third in class and 60th overall after over 44 miles of tough all-gravel driving at the Builth Wells based event. Morrison’s result sees him launch into second place of the MG ZR Rally Challenge and fourth in the 1400C standings heading into the summer break.

Winners from home and abroad celebrate Nicky Grist Stages success in Builth Wells

This year’s Nicky Grist Stages (8-9 July) proved to be a huge success, with spectators enjoying great weather and spectacular high-speed action, competitors rising magnificently to the challenge of a two-day mixed surface event, the event organisers Quinton MC running an incident-free rally and Builth Wells hosting fantastic town centre start and finish ceremonies.

With three rallies in one and competitors battling for points in 10 different championships, the mid-Wales event attracted 147 starters – all of which were flagged away from outside the magnificent Strand Hall in the heart of Builth Wells on Saturday morning.

Nicky Grist Stages dust off for Fossey

Jerseyman Ed Fossey returned to rallying action last weekend on the Nicky Grist Stages (8 July) – the fifth round of the BTRDA Rally Championship. Ed came back to the event where he made his gravel debut 12 months ago to chalk up 57th overall but more importantly fifth in class to strengthen his position at the top of the Thomas Panels BTRDA 1400 Championship with two rounds remaining.

Yates proves pace with first BRC podium

In only his second season in the series, Chesterfield rally driver Rhys Yates scored his first ever Prestone MSA British Rally Championship podium with third overall at last weekend’s Nicky Grist Stages in Wales (8th/9th July).

Competing against some of the best rally drivers in the business, Yates and co-driver Alex Lee battled over two gruelling days of flat-out driving across the forests and closed roads of Epynt Military Ranges in the heart of Wales.

Bilham becomes Fiesta ST Trophy champion

Bingley rally driver Sam Bilham secured the hotly-contested DMACK Fiesta ST Trophy at last weekend’s Nicky Grist Stages after taking his fifth win of the series.

Bilham and co-driver Cameron Fair needed only a podium result on the event but took yet another victory to seal the championship with two rounds remaining.

Ahlin advances championship ambition with Nicky Grist Stages win

Swedish driver Fredrik Ahlin and his Norwegian co-driver Torstein Eriksen claimed victory on round five of the Prestone MSA British Rally Championship – the Nicky Grist Stages (8/9 July). Local crew Osian Pryce and Dale Furniss (Ford Fiesta R5) led for most of the event until a high-pressure fuel pump failure sidelined the Welsh pairing on Sunday afternoon – allowing the Scandinavian crew to inherit the lead in their DMACK Skoda Fabia R5. The Welsh event was their third victory this season – returning them to the top of the championship table.

Nicky Grist Stages Rally

The only mixed surface event on the BRC calendar saw Fredrik Ahlin & Torstein Eriksen (Fabia R5) take victory, regaining the championship lead in the process. Osian Pryce & Dale Furniss (Fiesta R5) had lead after the opening days 8 gravel stages but they stopped on the 4th stage of the tarmac stages and with that the championship lead too. Matt Edwards & Phil Clarke (Fiesta R5) took 2nd place, 47.6 seconds behind Ahlin, to back up Edwards fine 2nd place in Ypres. Completing the podium were Rhys Yates & Alex Lee (Fiesta R5) after a tight battle with Martin McCormack & David Moynihan (Fiesta R5) with just 3.7 seconds separating the pair. In the BRC Junior category Callum Devine & Keith Moriarty (Adam R2) took overall honours.